The focus of early intervention services is to increase the family s competence and capacity to meet the needs of their child. The IFSP team should follow the family through their day, and develop an IFSP which supports the child s developmental activities across environments. Early intervention services are most effective when routines, materials, and people common to the family and child are used. The location selected to provide these services should be one that maximizes the child s and family s opportunity to learn. Provide information supporting the provision of services in natural environments During the initial evaluation and on-going assessments, it is important to discuss the reasons for providing services in a natural environment with the family.
Familiar environments allow children to focus on targeted learning.
Interactions with children without disabilities are linked to the child s ability to interact in adulthood with other adults. All children need to develop a sense of belonging. Children with disabilities have a right to access the same environments as other children. The family service coordinator also can provide information to the family about community resources and services. There may be many challenges within communities to meet the natural environment requirement.