| Assistive technology | Any item that supports a child’s ability to participate actively in the home, childcare program, or other community setting. The term does not include a medical device that is surgically implanted (e.g., a cochlear implant) or the optimization (e.g., mapping), maintenance, or replacement of that device. |
| Audiology/aural rehabilitation | Services that may help prevent or address hearing loss, such as auditory training; aural rehabilitation; speech reading and listening devices; hearing tests and hearing aids for a child; orientation and training for listening devices; and other related services. |
| Developmental therapy/special instruction | A developmental therapist assesses the global development of a child by performing evaluations in five areas: cognitive, communication, physical, social and emotional, and adaptive. Developmental therapy targets these five areas to maximize the independence of the child and help achieve the family’s outcomes. |
| Family training and support | These education and instruction services are primarily provided as a part of your visit with your service coordinator or EI provider. For families whose primary language spoken in the home is not English, this service includes interpretation and translation. |
| Health consultation | Health consultation is consultation between a licensed physician who has provided medical treatment to the child in the past year and members of the child’s IFSP team regarding the impact of the child’s health needs on service provision. |
| Interpretation and translation into other languages | Interpretation and translation services help families communicate with their team and ensure that families have materials in their primary language to support understanding. Examples include an interpreter attending meetings and translating documents. |
| Medical services (only for diagnostic or evaluation purposes) | Services provided by a physician to help diagnose or evaluate the child to determine the child’s developmental status and need for early intervention services. |
| Nursing | Nursing care is meant to prevent health problems, restore or improve functioning, and promote the child’s health and development. This may include providing medications and treatments prescribed by a physician during the child’s early intervention services. |
| Nutrition | Nutrition services may include addressing the child’s nutritional history and dietary intake, feeding skills and feeding problems, and food habits and preferences. Examples include developing and monitoring a plan to address the child’s nutrition needs. It can also include referrals to community resources. |
| Occupational therapy | Occupational therapists focus on the things we want and need to do in our daily lives. Occupational therapists use everyday life activities (routines) to promote health, well-being, and our ability to participate in the important activities in our lives. For infants and toddlers, this often means supporting play and other activities of daily living such as eating and dressing. |
| Physical therapy | A physical therapist can address the gross motor development of a child. Gross motor skills allow children to do tasks that involve large muscles (e.g., walking, crawling, standing, going up stairs). For infants and toddlers, this may include helping with positioning for daily routines, adapting toys for play, and expanding mobility options. |
| Psychological/counseling services | These services help improve the psychological functioning of the child and/or family. Examples include psychological and developmental tests for the child, counseling for the family, and parent training and education programs. |
| Service coordination | An active, ongoing process that assists and enables families to access services and assures a family’s rights and procedural safeguards. Examples include coordinating and implementing evaluations and assessments; facilitating and helping to develop, review, and evaluate the IFSP; helping the family identify available service providers; coordinating and monitoring the delivery of services; informing families of advocacy services; coordinating with medical and health providers; and facilitating the transition to preschool services. |
| Sign language or cued language | Sign language can include American Sign Language, which is a natural language using hand gestures. Cued speech is a visual representation of another language while American Sign Language is its own language. |
| Social work | Social work can provide emotional support to families. Examples include a social worker identifying and coordinating community resources, parent education, counseling, and crisis intervention. |
| Speech-language pathology | Services to improve communication and/or language skills. Examples include a speech-language pathologist working with a child on saying words, articulation, stringing words together, and using an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device. |
| Transportation | Travel that enables a child to participate in early intervention services. An example is reimbursing parents for transporting their children to and from early intervention services. |
| Vision | Communication skills training, orientation and mobility training, visual training, and additional training to support visual motor abilities. Examples include vision therapy and visual training. |
Definitions of EI Services
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Publication date: 2024