DISTINGUISHING FEATURES OF THE CLASS: This position exists in the County Health Department and involves responsibility to plan and oversee the provision of services to children with serious and/or potential physical illness to insure that these clients gain access to needed medical, social, educational, psychological and other services necessary to meet basic human needs. The program is targeted to parents and children populations with particularly problematic service needs. This group includes people who have a diagnosable physical illness and functional impairments which may seriously interfere with the ability to live independently and which persist over a prolonged period of time. Service coordination is a process involving assuring that parents of eligible children have access to early intervention services and other services such as medical services for other than diagnostic and evaluation purposes that the child is receiving. The role of the Coordinator is to identify clients in need of early intervention services, assure the assessment of clients on their caseload, determine resources needed, coordinate and integrate written service plans, facilitate service delivery, coordinate treatment plans with service providers, provide services to prevent or resolve crises, and is responsible for community support and education activities. Early intervention is intended to be the mechanism to insure the health system meets the needs of the client population, and the services reach the client concerned. The incumbent reports to the Early Intervention Program Director with leeway allowed for exercise of independent judgment in carrying out details of the work. Supervision over the work of others is not a responsibility of employees in this class. The incumbent does related work as required.
TYPICAL WORK ACTIVITIES:
- Coordinates and participates in the development of an individualized, goal-oriented assessment plan;
- Monitors and coordinates the delivery of necessary evaluations and assessments in order to ensure that each client’s needs are identified;
- Coordinates the performance of evaluations and assessments;
- Facilitates and participates in the development, review and evaluation of individualized Family Service Plans;
- Assists families in identifying service providers;
- Coordinates and monitors the delivery of services;
- Informs families of the availability of advocacy services;
- Coordinates with medical and health care providers;
- Facilitates the development of a transition plan to preschool services if appropriate or to other available supports and services;
- Informs families of the rights afforded to them by the Early Intervention Program and applicable federal and state laws and regulations;
- Aids in developing formal and informal community supports and networks for clients;
- Provides outreach to engage clients;
Early Intervention Service Coordinator—contd.
- Assures the assessment of clients on their caseload in order to have goals and problems identified, including clinical evaluation;
- Determines resources that will meet the need identified in the assessment process;
- Determines the need for auxiliary services i.e., financial benefits, legal, housing, educational, etc.
FULL PERFORMANCE KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, ABILITIES AND PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Good knowledge of child development and behavior principles and practices; good knowledge of State and federal laws regarding early intervention services; good knowledge of the public health service delivery system; good knowledge of family centered services; ability to provide professional leadership; ability to analyze and evaluate health reports; ability to work effectively with a clinical team setting; ability to plan, organize and control the delivery of services provided; ability to build a collaborative relationship with families, to be sensitive to family’s concerns and to enable families to achieve the goals they want for their children in so far as these goals are achievable.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: Either:
A. Graduation from a regionally accredited or New York State registered college or university with a bachelor’s degree or higher in a health or human services field*; or
B. Graduation from a regionally accredited or New York State registered two-year college with an associate’s degree in a health or human services field* and two years of service coordination experience with infants and/or toddlers with developmental delays or disabilities; or
C. An equivalent combination of training and experience as outlined in (A) and (B) above.
*For purposes of qualifying for these titles a “human service field” includes social work, psychology, nursing, rehabilitation, education, occupational therapy, physical therapy, recreation or recreation therapy, counseling, community mental health, child and family studies, speech and hearing.