VIRGINIA INTERAGENCY COORDINATING COUNCIL
PRIORITIZATION OF 2002-2003
INTEGRATED WORK PLAN

The challenges before the Virginia Interagency Coordinating Council (VICC) are great. These challenges were identified in careful detail in the 2002-2003 Integrated Work Plan developed by the VICC, its five topical work groups, and five other task forces. The Plan includes 10 major, far reaching Outcome statements and 101 Actions/Strategies associated with the Outcomes. In an effort to set clear directions for the coming months, and to prioritize the planning recommendations, the VICC charged the Infant & Toddler Connection of Virginia (ITCV) office to develop a truly integrated work plan that reflected the priorities of the VICC, considered the demands of the current environment, including the states’ OSEP Improvement Plan, and the information contained within Integrated Work Plan. 

During the VICC Retreat held September 11 –12, 2002, the following questions were identified by VICC members as a means to prioritize outcomes and strategies:

1. Will it jeopardize the long-term existence of Part C if we don’t do it?

2. What is affordable?

3. How can we meet the Governor’s priority of serving children?

4. What will make a difference quickly but not lose sight of long-term needs?

From this, the Infant & Toddler Connection of Virginia (ITCV) office distilled two focus areas: service approach and financial stability. These areas of focus establish two priority strands that address the daily administrative demands of the program and link together multiple outcomes from the Integrated Work Plan. While these two priority strands are separate, they too are linked/integrated to one another and need to be addressed collectively and not in isolation of one another.

Service Approach:

By establishing a focus on the service approach as a priority, VICC can address:

• the demands on the program for ever increasing frequency, intensity and duration of services;

• the need to clarify the financial obligation of early intervention;

• the full implementation of natural environment requirements;

• the need to respond to referrals in a timely manner;

• the requirement that families have a single point of contact; and

• the need for the public to fully understand early intervention services. 

The research is clear. Early intervention is effective. However, there is need for further guidance in establishing the frequency, intensity and duration of services for each child and family. There is no compelling evidence that more is better. Therefore, clearly establishing a service delivery approach as a consultative, transdisciplinary, daily routines based model will provide the guidance needed to prevent over utilization, will help in defining the financial obligations of system and will address issues related to the implementation of services in natural environments. 

The research also is clear about the need to identify and intervene early. The service approach to which ITCV is committed supports this and addresses the processing of referrals within the required timelines. ITCV will continue its commitment to identifying all eligible children as soon as possible while recognizing the importance of providing appropriate services to both the child and family.

By its very nature, early intervention involves multiple agencies and disciplines and requires a comprehensive service approach. Full recognition of this fact will bring about an added effort to eliminate duplication of service coordination and to strongly support this as a key service for each family. Recognition of the need for a comprehensive service approach can also lead to a stronger understanding of ITCV by the public. Seeing early intervention as a service that ties all aspects of the system together can help families, providers and referral sources understand the linking, bridging, and gap filling characteristics of a comprehensive service approach.

Financial Stability:

Financial stability is vital if ITCV is to continue to serve the existing population and to grow. Under the current financial crisis, and as a long-term solution to program stability, focusing on financial stability is crucial at this time. 

Clarification of the ITCV service approach will help in establishing financial stability. As previously stated, over utilization can be curbed through an understanding of the consultative, transdisciplinary model of service delivery. Some service approaches, based on rehabilitation and recuperation, require intensive, up-front service activity with diminished utilization as recovery occurs. Intervention to strengthen development is enhanced through training primary care givers, and shaping the environment so that, with support, learning and development can occur through daily routines of life. In addition, each discipline supports and builds on the other’s intervention and often acts as a consultant to a primary interventionist, creating a transdisciplinary effort. The research supports the finding that consultative, transdisciplinary models of service can lower the frequency and duration levels of intervention services while maintaining or improving child and family outcomes. 

Clearly defining the service approach can also help in establishing criteria for obligated services, those services that are deemed “necessary services” for the learning and development to occur. ITCV is not financially responsible for services that are not related to the development of the child or supports the family in helping that development. Nor is ITCV financially responsible for services that exceed a reasonable guideline for appropriate services. ITCV is also not financially responsible for service levels determined by set protocols, such as physician orders based on medical models or therapeutic regimens. Focusing on the service approach will help establish these parameters.

Financial stability is also dependent upon maximum use of alternative funding sources. This requires clear delineation of responsibility. Clarification of the service approach can also help in this matter, but once responsibility is established, accountability must follow. 

A stable financial base in the final analysis is dependent upon commitment. After effectiveness and efficiency is ensured, and responsibility and accountability is in place, how committed all stake holders are will determine whether the program can maintain the level of services required and continue to strive toward 100% identification, or reconsider the population to be served. 

Actions/Strategies Summary:

Within the Integrated Work Plan, many of the actions/strategies for addressing these priorities are identified in detail. Focusing on those that relate to these priorities will establish order on how to proceed in the coming months. Once these priorities are met, the VICC will need to review the remaining information from the 2000-2001 and determine the next priority items to be addressed.