Carlena Lowell SEI 523 Individual Practicum Plan

Individual Practicum Plan Carlena Lowell SEI 523 Fall 2013

Carlena Lowell SEI 523 Individual Practicum Plan

*The term the family and pronouns have been used to maintain confidentiality Prior to Attending Visits I will begin attending home visits with the Primary Service Provider (PSP) of the family I am working with the week of September 30th. Prior to accompanying the PSP on the home visit, I will review this detailed plan with her, as well as discuss my requirements and expectations for this course. In addition, I will discuss these same things with the family, and I will ensure they understand the purpose of what I will be doing with them and the difference between my role with them as a graduate student and as their service coordinator from CDS. I have already obtained and submitted written permission from the parent. In addition to the activities I have outlined in this plan, I will be assisting the family to obtain information and services as needed or desired, and I will be collaborating with other service providers who are providing services to the child. Although these two things are considered other activities in the syllabus, it is my feeling they are an innate part of my role with the family not only as a practicum student, but also as their service coordinator. My overall timeline plan is to stay a bit ahead of the game. As I am learning quickly in my new role as a Part C service coordinator, things happen. If I ahead of the assignment due dates a bit, then I will not need to worry as much if the family needs to cancel one week or any other issues arise. Therefore, all dates in this plan are subject to change if the need presents itself.

Carlena Lowell SEI 523 Individual Practicum Plan

The Home Visits The PSP generally sees the family on Thursday mornings. My first visit with the family is scheduled for Thursday, September 19. This initial visit will be a meet and greet to introduce myself and the basis for the practicum. I will briefly introduce these activities. If they feel they could benefit more from other activities, we will discuss this. The first visit will be short as I have another meeting scheduled before this visit and the time will overlap some; however, after this week it is my intent to be at the full home visit each week. Below I have laid out a potential timeline and purpose of home visits. It feels a bit heavy on the front end; therefore, I may change it a bit to meet the needs of everyone involved, particularly the family. Potential timeline and purpose of home visits: October 3: Meet and greet with the family; construct the ecomap; complete the screening October 10: Conduct the RBI with the family October 17: Observe and complete support-based home visit checklist October 24: TBD October 31: Observe and complete support-based home visit checklist November 7: TBD November 14: Observe and complete support-based home visit checklist November 21: Facilitate the home visit, PSP to complete the checklist on me December 5: Six month review of services December 12: Final home visit Ecomap As part of the first home visit on October 3, I will construct the ecomap with the family. By constructing this ecomap with the family and the PSP present, we will all get a better sense of what types and how many supports the family has in place. The PSP and I have discussed incorporating the ecomap into all of the first visits I do with

Carlena Lowell SEI 523 Individual Practicum Plan

families; therefore, completing the ecomap with this family will benefit not only me, the family, and the PSP, but perhaps even the CDS site in the long run. Timeline goal for ecomap: Complete with the family: October 3 Upload to the portfolio: October 6 Activity #1: Complete a Screening Tool After a discussion with the PSP, I decided I would like to complete a screening tool. Our site currently uses the Denver-II at the first visit, and often uses the Ages & Stages throughout services. I would like to look into using a different tool in order to continue familiarizing myself with other tools, as well as to consider if another tool may be useful to our site. Timeline for Activity #1: Completing a Screening Tool: By October 2: Decide on which screening tool to use and acquire it By October 3: Complete the screening By October 6: Upload all applicable information (i.e., the protocol, report, etc.) to portfolio Routines-based Interview This is an assignment I am looking forward to. Although I base many of my first visit questions on the familys routine, I would like to revise the way in which I ask the family. At this point I go through a list of routines asking them to describe each one. I am looking forward to practicing McWilliams version of the Routines-Based Interview (RBI) wherein we will first discuss which routines are applicable, and then conduct the interview from that point. Timeline for the RBI: On October 10: Conduct the RBI with the family By October 13: Upload to portfolio
4

Carlena Lowell SEI 523 Individual Practicum Plan

Activity #2: Implement the Checklists For my second activity I will be implementing checklists from McWilliams text with the PSP I will be accompanying to home visits. I plan to observe the PSP and fill the checklists out, and vise versa. The checklists we will potentially use for the purpose of this practicum are: Ecomap Checklist Infant/Toddler Assessment Checklist RBI Implementation Checklist Service Decision Checklist Transdisciplinary Service Delivery Checklist Primary Service Provider Checklist Consulting Team Member Checklist Support-Based Home Visiting Checklist My rationale for implementing checklists is two-fold. First, I will use them for the purpose of learning about Routines-Based Early Intervention. Second, my PSP and I will use them in order to consider them for use at out CDS site. My plan is to implement most of the checklists once; however, implement the Support-Based Home Visiting Checklist several times. By implementing it several times, the PSP and I will be able to reflect upon its usefulness, as well as our own abilities in relation to support-based home visiting. I plan to use my reflective journal as a vehicle for discussing and reflecting upon the use of the checklists; however, also plan to group all reflections relating to checklists in one document. Timeline for Activity #2: Implementing the Checklists: I will be completing applicable checklists at various home visits Upload all applicable information to date to portfolio: October 20 & December 15

Carlena Lowell SEI 523 Individual Practicum Plan

Reading Resource List As I get to know the family throughout September and October, I will consider readings for the resource list. I will take into account the familys interests, priorities, and concerns when crafting this resource list. In addition, I will get input from the family as well as the PSP to enable myself to create a reading resource list that can be as useful as possible to the family. Timeline for the Reading Resource List: Ongoing through September and some of October Upload to portfolio: October 27 Ten Functional Outcomes I am looking forward to this assignment as this is an area I would like to improve upon for my service coordination role at CDS. Most of the assignments for this class directly relate to what I am now doing professionally; however, this one is an area in need of improvement for me. I am happy to have the opportunity to practice this skillset in this class. When the team develops outcomes, I use a Cheat Sheet for Writing Good Quality Outcomes that was in place prior to the beginning of my work as the Part C service coordinator. I find this sheet to be incredibly helpful for the most part; however, some of the pieces of it are not used as we tend to group them together. While developing the ten functional outcomes for this family, I would also like to narrow down which items on this outcome development sheet are useful, which are not, and revise it to fit my needs as a service coordinator. I will be considering ideas for these outcomes throughout all of my home visits because the outcomes should be based on the familys priorities and concerns throughout various times of day and routines. Through applying

Carlena Lowell SEI 523 Individual Practicum Plan

active listening skills I will be able to discover these with the family across many home visits. Timeline for Ten Functional Outcomes: Upload to portfolio: November 10 Activity #3: Attending the IFSP Meetings The third activity for me is attending the IFSP meetings with the family. The family is due for a three month review of services around September 19, and a six month review of services by December 19. I plan to hold the three month review at the September 26 or October 3 home visit, depending on timing. Then I plan to hold the 6 month review December 5. In addition, I will attend the Early Intervention Team Meetings in which the quarterly review to the team will take place. Timeline for Activity #3: Attending the IFSP Meetings: Three month review: October 1 Six month review: December 5 Upload all applicable information to portfolio: December 8 Reflective Journal I have found writing regular reflection in journals helps me to consider things I do well and things I can improve upon. I find it incredibly helpful to spend time reflecting; in this new professional position I find it difficult to carve out time to meaningfully reflect. I look forward to being able to use this journal to reflect on my various practicum experiences as outlined in the syllabus, but also how they relate to my professional endeavors. My goal is to have a minimum of ten entries. Timeline goal for journal entries all to be uploaded to the portfolio: By September 29: Entry 1 By November 3: Entries 2-5

Carlena Lowell SEI 523 Individual Practicum Plan

By December 1: Entries 6-8 By December 18: Entries 9 & 10