Brundage Family Activity – “Progress Report

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Materials:

Toddler Toys (for role playing demonstration)
Index Cards (that have family concerns on one side and columns on reverse side)
Journal Paper for 3-Point “Plan”
Unlined 11” x 14” Paper, markers and pastels for Brundage Family Picture
Wall Chart Paper 27” x 34”

List of Handouts to Accompany the “Brundage Family Activity”

Activity Based Family Settings
Child Evaluation and Assessment
Child Find Definition
Definitions of “At Risk” and “Developmental Delay” (Ohio, 1987)
How to Use Home Available Objects for Teaching Your Infant or Toddler
Identification of Family Resources: Priorities and Concerns
Listening, Observing and Verifying
The Home-Based Visitation Process for Families and Professionals – Mutual Goal Setting
Problem Solving – Birth to Three Developmental Scale
Temperamental Characteristics

Description of Activity: “Progress Report” is an activity for professional growth, in which factors leading to effective early intervention and successful family collaboration are identified. Collaborative consultation, home-based services, and family assessment is discussed as essential elements that affect professionals’ ability to respond responsibly to family issues. Professionals share their knowledge of family belief systems and formulate goals for continued growth in their disciplines.

Suggested “Progress Report” Activity Steps:
Reading the Brundage Family Story:

  1. Co-trainers welcome participants and introduce themselves as co-trainers who are parent professional partners and coordinators of the family-centered and activity-based curriculum.
  2. Co-trainers point out that the success of the Qualifying Curriculum for EI Professionals depends on the willingness of professionals to share their knowledge and expertise in five phases of each activity:
    a. Reading the Family Store
    b. Taking the Family Picture
    c. Interacting with Other Participants
    d. Writing About the Family
    e. Reflecting on the Learning
  3. Co-trainers remind participants that the Brundage Family Story is based on real family interviews. The Brundage Family tells their story in the first person, to ensure that participants feel the presence of the family.
  4. Co-trainers distribute the Brundage Family Story, and read the story aloud, as participants follow along.
  5. Co-trainers distribute the Brundage Family activity, Progress Report, read the description of the activity, and remind participants that the objectives are integrated into this activity.
  6. Co-trainers inform participants that some handouts provided during the activity may be used directly as part of the active learning process, and others are for information only.

    Taking the Brundage Family Picture:
  7. Co-trainers instruct participants that they are stepping into the roles of Lillie Brundage and a home-based early intervention specialist. The co-trainer, role playing the specialist, tells how she had come to Lillie’s home two years before, as a result of a County Collaborative Group (CCG) Child Find project (Lillie had called the CCG and said she know she needed help with her kids). Co-trainer distributes Child Find Definitions and Child Evaluation and Assessment handouts.
  8. Participants watch the EI specialist demonstrate how she first started making home visits to Lillie’s house two years ago, and how she utilized developmental toys to encourage Lillie to become her children’s first teacher.
  9. Co-trainers ask participants to use the worksheet to write down what they heard, what they observed, and what they might say in a similar situation.
  10. Co-trainers discuss how the home-based model allows for effective family and child assessment, and discuss participants’ responses to the worksheet, Listening, Observing and Verifying.
  11. Participants share their knowledge of assessment that occurs in the home setting, and make a brief sketch of the Brundage Family based on the home visit role play, interpreting the family’s strengths and complex issues, as found in the family story.

    Interacting with Other participants:
  12. Co-trainers instruct participants to break into pairs and ask them to select one member of team to be Lillie; the other member takes the role of the EI home-based specialist.
  13. Co-trainers give each team index cards containing family concerns, such as:
    a. neglect, home care
    b. Health impairments
    c. Risk factors, e.g. lead poisoning
    d. Cultural issues
    e. Depression, death of a child
    f. Family assessment
  14. Co-trainers ask each team to draw two columns on the reverse side of each card: a) what are the goals related to this family concern? And (b) who will take the lead in making progress toward achieving those goals (EI professional or Lillie?)
  15. Participants, still role-playing Lillie and the EI specialist, discuss both consultant and consultee roles, and how it feels for Lillie or the EI specialist to be the consultant and the consultee in different situations.

    Writing about the Brundage Family:
  16. Co-trainers ask participants to reflect on what they have learned in this activity and write a three point “What I can Do Back at My Agency Plan” to accomplish his/her professional goals.

    Reflecting on the Learning:
  17. Co-trainers indicate that the objectives for the Brundage Family  activity are met through a process of self-reflection and self-study of questions outlined below.
Ask Dr. Susan