Implementation of a Family-Centered Philosophy in Early Intervention: Perspectives of Families and Professionals
This study compared families' and professionals' perceptions of the implementation of the family-centered philosophy. The participants were 32 families of children with disabilities age 0-3 and 38 professionals providing direct services in early intervention. Participants shared their perceptions through family and professional focus groups held at six early intervention programs representing rural, urban and suburban areas of Illinois. Content analysis identified similar indicators of family-centeredness for both groups especially in the area of supporting the family's competence. Both families and professionals viewed early intervention as a seamless whole rather than specific components such as assessment or IFSPs. The two groups identified different types of Barriers to Family-Centeredness. Families found Barriers in dealing with medical professionals who did not refer to early intervention or did not communicate clearly. Professionals found diversity among families to be a barrier for them. Families did not express an expectation or desire for a family focus of intervention, but did mention program characteristics that would make the logistics of intervention easier to negotiate. Families voiced a need for informal support beyond that provided by the program, whereas professionals appeared to have less awareness of this need, or their role in assisting families to meet this need. Professionals generally confined their perceived role to those areas directly related to their program. Since the families expressed an expectation for a child focus for services, determining whether families prefer child-focused versus a family-focused intervention and under what circumstances appears to be an important area to explore with each family. Results support the continued training of professionals and families in the emerging family-centered model.
Education, Early Childhood, Education, Special
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign