 |
 |
|
||||||||||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Icyf < Service_learning < Students < Internship < Meet_the_interns < Intern_stories < | |||||||
Intern Stories
Sandy SwansonAgency: The Blake FoundationTerm: Summer - 2002
|
 |
| I am currently working for The Blake Foundation in the Early Intervention program. The Arizona Early Intervention Program (AzEIP) is a statewide system of supports and services for families of infants and toddlers with disabilities or developmental delays. The purpose of Early Intervention is to help families help their children to develop to their fullest potential. AzEIP is funded by the Department of Economic Security (DES). Under DES, there are five participating agencies from which a family can choose depending on their needs and eligibility.
Because AzEIP requires that all services must be provided in the families' natural environment, my job involves a lot of traveling. Frequently families select their home to be the place where services are provided, though sometimes they choose another place where they will be spending time with their child. All intervention must be provided in the least restrictive method possible, and anything we do during intervention must be done for the purpose of supporting the goals of the family.
I perform three roles for my agency. I am a "dual role" Service Coordinator/Early Interventionist as well as an inclusion specialist. As an early interventionist, I work as part of a team that includes the whole family, a service coordinator, sometimes therapists or health care providers, and anyone else that the family relies on for support to meet their goals. Each team member brings knowledge and suggestions from their areas of expertise to the family and other team members. I serve as the child development specialist. It is my responsibility to provide the families with whom I work information about typical child development, and to help them incorporate ideas to foster developmental growth into their everyday routines. The main areas I concentrate on are social and cognitive skills. It is also my responsibility as a Service Coordinator to lead an effective team meeting to develop an Individual Family Service Plan that is unique to the goals, resources, and priorities of each family. The Service Coordinator provides support to families as they negotiate a very complex Early Intervention system. I really enjoy working for The Blake Foundation. I am in agreement with the values the agency represents and the methods it advocates. The services that the agency provides are helpful because they support the families and demonstrate achievement of goals as identified by the family with tangible outcomes. The Blake Foundation is family-friendly and strives to be in accordance with best practice regulations at all times. I have picked up knowledge and hands-on skills in my work that I could not have learned in a classroom. This job has helped to prepare me for a continuing career in family service. |
|
|
|
|
| Home
| Program
Evaluation |Research
and Outreach | Service
Learning | Getting
Involved About Us | Contact Us | Events Calendar | Site Map University
of Arizona | College
of Agriculture and Life Sciences © 2002 Institute of Children, Youth, and Families University of Arizona Family and Consumer Sciences 1110 E. South Campus Dr. PO Box 210033 Tucson, AZ 85721-0033 Phone: (520)626-4433 Fax: (520)621-3401 families@ag.arizona.edu |