Meaningful Interventions: Strategies for Effective Home Visiting

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Meaningful Interventions Strategies for
Effective Home Visiting

• Bonnie Keilty, Ed.D.
• University of North Carolina, Charlotte
• South Carolina Early Intervention Conference
• May 22, 2008

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Reflecting on home visiting

• How are you
• Promoting child learning and development in
  between visits?
• Supporting family use of suggested intervention
  strategies?
• Determining how well the strategies work?
• Determining family fidelity of implementation?

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Principles of early intervention home visiting

• Interventions occur in the context of the
  everyday routine activities that are
  individualized to the family
• Interventions promote child participation and
  engagement in the routine activities
• Interventions are designed so family members are
  actively participating in home visits to
  understand and appreciate the recommended
  intervention strategies
• Interventions are designed so family members are
  confident and competent in using intervention
  strategies in between visits

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Interventions occur in the context of the
everyday routine activities that are
individualized to the family

• Context characteristics
• Family-identified priorities and concerns
• Repeated opportunities for practice
• Where the caregiver will use the strategies
• Implementation vs. discussion
• Family traditions
• How will you explain this practice to families?

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Interventions promote child participation and
engagement in routine activities

• Child engagement characteristics
• Identified routine activity (during home visit)
• Attention to interest
• Actively participating vs. on the sideline
• Necessary adaptations
• A just enough challenge
• How will you make sure the engagement strategies
  work during the home visit?

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Interventions are designed so family members are
actively participating

• Family engagement characteristics
• Understand and appreciate purpose of visits
• Ensure comprehension of rationale
• Home visits depend on caregiver engagement
• Consistent expectation of participation
• Initiation of home visits
• Beginning of each home visit
• All team members
• How will you explain this practice to families?

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Interventions are designed so family members are
confident and competent

• Confidence and competence characteristics
• Fidelity of implementation question
• Family outcome as well as intensity of
  intervention
• Practices are
• Dependent on recommended strategy
• Demonstration and explanation
• Caregiver practice and iterative feedback
• Questions and reservations are addressed
• Strategies do not require interventionist
  presence
• Adequate frequency and intensity of support
• Reasonable number and type of strategies
• How will you explain your role and the familys
  role to families?

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Seamless, context-based intervention process

• Explanation of early intervention process
• Family assumptions and expectations
• Eligibility evaluation
• IFSP outcomes and strategies

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Shifting practices

• Feel comfortable and confident with the concepts
• Find more information if needed
• Use team members as support
• Have an open dialogue with the family
• Identify successes
• Dont give up!

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Reflecting on home visiting

• What might you do differently to
• Promote child learning in between visits?
• Support family strategy use?
• Know the strategies will work for each family?
• Balance flexibility and meeting professional
  expectations?
• Ensure a seamless system in
• Eligibility evaluation
• IFSP strategies
• Determine fidelity of implementation

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• Bonnie Keilty, Ed.D.
• Department of Special Education
• and Child Development
• University of North Carolina, Charlotte
• [phone]
• bakeilty_at_uncc.edu
• For additional information on topic, see
• Keilty, B. (2008). Early intervention home
  visiting principles in practice A reflective
  approach. Young Exceptional Children, 11(2)
  29-40.