Family Assessment and Collaboration Building: Conjoined processes

Abstract

Experience and research have shown that there are several discrepancies between philosophy, research, and practice regarding family involvement in early intervention and the use of family assessment information in determining early intervention goals. This article addresses these discrepancies and presents information to facilitate ideal family involvement in early intervention. Strategies for conducting family assessments while building collaborative partnerships with families are presented. Characteristics which produce effective collaborative partnerships are reviewed. The reality of working with families is presented through two vignettes and, finally, working with families who do not conform to expectations of ideal family involvement in family assessment or collaborative partnerships is discussed.