Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) team members include:

• The Early Intervention Official (EIO) in charge of the Early Intervention Program (EIP) in the county where you live, 
• The Evaluators who will assess your child, 
• The Providers (therapists) who deliver services to your child and family, 
• Your Service Coordinator, and 
• You - the parent or caregiver. 

This team makes important decisions about the services your child and family will receive. That's why the EIP asks parents to be involved in their child's services and take part in the IFSP team as an equal partner. This gives you the chance to help the other members know more about the strengths and needs of your child, and ensures that you will always have a say in the decisions that are made. Building a strong working bond and talking clearly with each other is very important, and will help make sure that the EIP serves your family in the best way possible. Every member of the IFSP team plays a role in making this happen. 

Your service coordinator is responsible for helping you to understand the early intervention program, collecting information from you and getting your consent before certain activities take place, helping you to make sure that your concerns, priorities and resources form the foundation of the outcomes you and your team develop in your IFSP, and making sure that services are provided in a timely manner. 

Your Early Intervention Official/or Designee (EIO/D) is the representative for your county.  The EIO/D is responsible for making sure that all timelines are met.

Your evaluators are responsible for making sure that your child receives a multidisciplinary developmental evaluation and is specifically evaluated in the areas about which you have concerns.  Your evaluators are there to help you to understand your child's present levels of development and explain any tools that were used to determine your child's eligibility or need for specific types of services.

Your early intervention providers are responsible for making sure that you understand the next phases of development, and helping you to develop outcomes that respond to your stated concerns, priorities and resources.

You can begin creating your IFSP by participating in a family assessment (if you choose), by letting your providers know your concerns, your priorities and your resources. Next you can let your evaluators know what things you and your family like to do and what challenges you face. Your evaluators should help you understand the developmental milestones you may expect for a child with your child's diagnosis or delays.  From all of this information, you and your team will develop a set of outcomes and then begin to identify services that can help your child and family to meet those outcomes.

Your plan should be written in a way that makes sure that it can meet your child and family's needs for the next six months.  Thus it should anticipate that your child will grow, develop and learn over the next six months and should have enough outcomes to keep your team busy for six months.  However, if something big happens—your child is hospitalized, your home situation changes significantly, or your child is not making progress—your team can come together and make changes to your plan.   Six months is not so long for adults, but for an infant or a toddler a lot of growth and development can take place in six months—the goal of early intervention is to help your family to make the most of that growth and development and meet your child's special needs.

The Working with your IFSP Team brochure provides information about what you should expect from your IFSP team members, and what they should expect from you, to help each other create the best team possible for your child's success.