Summary

Overall, high-quality COS discussions are essential and on-going throughout the IFSP process. They should actively include all team members as participants in the consideration of multiple sources of information (e.g., observation, family report, formal assessment) when describing a child’s full range of functioning in the three early childhood outcomes areas across settings and situations. Revisit the illustration below and consider this:

What are the benefits of integrating the three early childhood outcomes/child outcomes summary (COS) into the IFSP process?

• Family Engagement—Families are more engaged, as they are included in all aspects of the COS/IFSP process.
• Age-Expected Development—Through the utilization of resources, such as Maryland’s Healthy Beginnings, in conjunction with the COS 7-point rating scale for measuring child outcomes, we emphasize the importance of understanding a child’s development in relationship to typical development.
• Functionality—The documentation of a child’s strengths and needs in each of the three early childhood outcomes facilitates a more integrated, functional approach to development.
   

Additional Helpful Resources

In addition to referring back to this tutorial to ongoingly access useful information about the intergrated COS/IFSP processes, the following helpful resources are also available:

• Maryland's Online Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP)-- In the Need Help area of the Online IFSP, you will find a plethora of COS-related resources, including materials from the statewide face-to-face training series.
• Early Childhood Outcomes (ECO) Center-- The ECO website includes a repository of COS-related professoinal development materials used by national- and state-level trainers.
  • General professional development materials
  • State-specific professional development materials (scroll down to Maryland)