Best Practices

This document describes Harbor Regional Center’s expectations for early intervention services. These expectations reflect what parents of children receiving these services, regional center staff, and service providers themselves have told us an early intervention service should be like. While realizing that many service providers do not currently meet these expectations, we anticipate that these providers will work in partnership with us in the coming years to achieve them.

1. Services are provided in natural environments unless the developmental outcomes for the child can not be met in that setting.
2. All services have a strong parent training component and parents have substantial involvement in structured programming.
3. If the child has siblings, the program creates appropriate ways for them to be involved in the early intervention activities with their brother or sister.
4. The program helps parents identify and access appropriate community resources.
5. The program helps each child make the transition into a community pre-school or school district program.
6. A representative of the program participates in the IFSP meeting.
7. All specialists serving a child collaborate with one another, at the IFSP meeting and at other times through phone consultations and sharing of reports.
8. Parents are given copies of all plans and progress reports written in plain language.
9. Programs regularly ask parents to evaluate the services their children receive.
10. Program staff are encourage to attend outside training conducted by the regional center or other organizations.
11. Staff providing direct services, either in the home or in a site-based program, receive at least monthly, face-to-face supervision.
12. Direct service staff are paid at least 250% of minimum wage.
13. Direct service staff are paid for a minimum of six hours per month to participate in activities such as supervisory meetings and training.

Download PDF Expectations for Early Intervention Services