Working with Families to Develop and Implement an Individualized Family Service Plan: A Rural Inservice Training Model

Abstract

Public Law 99-457, Part H, Program for Handicapped Infants and Toddlers, has created a significant challenge and need for personnel training. This article describes an inservice training project designed to develop the skills of rural professionals in developing and implementing family-focused Individualized Family Service Plans (IFSPs). The primary goals of the training are to provide early interventionists from numerous disciplines with a philosophy, a process framework for developing IFSPs with families, and to teach the skills needed to implement that process. The results of the training with professionals from six regional training workshops serving rural families are presented.