First Steps Core Training (FSCT)

Indiana's Unified Training System

UTS Programmatic Training

Onsite Trainings

FSCT -The Paper Trail – A Guide to First Steps Provider Documentation
Restricted Audience: Any Direct Service Providers
Description: First Steps, Indiana’s program for the Individuals with Disability Education Improvement Act, (IDEA) Part C, has many requirements for the early intervention record and individual provider documentation. This half-day course will provide an overview of the early intervention record, including the Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP), Face-to-Face form, and provider progress notes. Participants will discuss how to request changes in IFSP services, writing effective outcomes and organizational strategies to insure that documentation meets all required timelines. Basic information on documentation needed for First Steps credentialing and billing will also be presented.

Credential Units: .3

FSCT -Understanding Diversity within Families
Unrestricted Audience: Direct Service Providers and Intake/Ongoing Service Coordinators
Seminar Description: Participants will engage in guided learning opportunities that will demonstrate how cultural influences affect all of us. Participants will discuss how their own perceptions and experiences impact their daily interactions and those with the children and families they serve.

Seminar Objectives: Identify individual beliefs and biases related to your own culture. Determine action steps towards developing cultural sensitivity that can be integrated into your work. Recognize cultural differences and report how you value them in relation to families and have an opportunity to talk about the aspects of recognizing the importance of fathers and their roles within the family structure.

Credential Units: .6

FSCT - Using the AEPS to Develop Strategies for Therapy Sessions

Restricted audience: Direct Service Providers who completed their initial credential prior to January 1, 2008.

Description: This is also a 3-hour face-to-face training that focuses on reading and interpreting the AEPS report to write appropriate outcomes on the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP). Providers will also learn how to write appropriate IFSP progress reports that reflect the progress made on the outcomes written in the IFSP. This course covers the same topics as DSP 103 that new providers must take in their first year of enrollment. This course can NOT be substituted for DSP 103.

Credential Units: .3

AEPS 2-Day Course

The 2-day AEPS course can now be used as a First Steps Core Training (FSCT) for your First Steps initial or annual credential. The Bureau of Child Development Services has approved the full 2-day AEPS course as a (FSCT). The cost for the 2 day AEPS training is $75 and is not included in the Annual Provider Fee. (Providers can still use their annual training fee to attend another FSCT). Providers who wish to take advantage of using the 2-day AEPS for their annual mandatory training cannot have used it for credential points in a previous credential period. Please contact training@utsprokids.org if you have questions or need additional information.

Credentail Units: 1.2

FSCT -Writing Functional Outcomes for Service Coordinators
Restricted Audience: Intake/Ongoing Service Coordinators
Description: IFSP outcome writing has long been a challenge for both families and professionals. However, writing functional, measurable, and family driven outcomes will provide the needed evidence to support that early intervention programs do make a difference in the lives of the children and families we serve. The goal of this training is to revisit what we may think we know about writing family guided outcomes and encourage participants to "think outside the box" as we offer clarifications on how to make outcomes truly belong to the family.

Credential Units: .3

FSCT -Documentation for Service Coordinators
Restricted Audience: Intake/Ongoing Service Coordinators
Description: Service Coordinators do a lot of different activities with and on behalf of their families in First Steps. This 1/2 day training will focus on how to become more effective in this area by exploring what needs to be documented, techniques on how to document, and organizational tips on staying on top of clinical documentation.

Credential Units: .3

FSCT -Home Visiting
Unrestricted Audience: Direct Service Providers and Intake/Ongoing Service Coordinators
Description: Home visiting strategies in early intervention. This session presents strategies early interventionists can use to carry out the IFSP in the natural home setting. The session will focus on the audience's relationships with families, parent-child interactional techniques, and intervention with high risk families. Participants will engage in observation and discussion of effective strategies that promote the ongoing relationship of the family with their child and the child's development.

Credential Units: .6

FSCT -Writing Functional Outcomes
Restricted Audience: Direct Service Providers
This is an interactive workshop designed for participants to both evaluate and write functional outcomes for the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP). Functional outcomes emphasize outcomes that reflect family priorities, promote successful and independent functioning, have current and future relevance, and are easily embedded into everyday routines, activities, and places. (Participants are encouraged to bring copies of current outcome pages from which to practice.)

Credential Units: .6

FSCT-AEPS: An Overview (onsite)
Restricted Audience: Direct Service Providers and Intake/Ongoing Service Coordinatorsnew to the system since September 2007
Description: The Assessment, Evaluation and Programming System (AEPS) is the assessment tool used by Eligibility Determination (ED) Teams as part of the process to determine First Steps eligibility. This 3 hour course is available as a First Steps Core Training only to new providers and service coordinators whose enrollment date is after September 2007. Topics to be covered include an overview of the AEPS tool, scoring guidelines, family reporting and the use of the AEPS assessment in the development of IFSP goals, strategies and activities. The course provides an overview only and is not intended as training to use the AEPS tool. The course will provide general information about the AEPS tool and the eligibility determination process for newly enrolled ongoing providers and service coordinators. It does not substitute for the full 2-day AEPS training, required for all ED team members.

Credential Units: .3

Self-Study Courses

FSCT-AEPS Overview
Unrestricted Audience: This course is open to all Direct Service Providers, Intake/Ongoing Service Coordinators and First Steps Families.
Description: The Assessment, Evaluation and Programming System (AEPS) is the assessment tool used by Eligibility Determination (ED) Teams as part of the process to determine First Steps eligibility. This course is available as a First Steps Core Training. Through this interactive self-study, participants will learn about the AEPS tool, its scoring guidelines, the importance of family reporting, and the use of the AEPS tools in the development of IFSP outcomes, strategies and activities. During the training, the participants will view a video clip of Sierra Rose while she plays at chidcare and will determine her skill level using the AEPS tools.

The course was developed to provide an overview of the AEPS. It is not a training to use the AEPS tool, and it does not substitute for the full 2-day AEPS training, which is required for all ED team members.

Once you are registered, you will receive a confirmation email within 2 business days. Within 7 business days, you should receive a packet in the mail with the appropriate materials.

Please note: The time to complete this training is approximately 3 hours.There is also a 45-day timeline in which to complete this training. The date listed on the training calendar to register is the last day of the month that you may register for the training. It does not coincide with your due date or the date you will start the training. Your 45-day timeline begins the day you register for the training.

Credential Units: .3

FSCT- Direct Serivce Provider Refresher Course
Restricted Audience: Direct Service Providers who entered the system prior to August 2007.
Description: This course takes you through the DSP 101 orientation course is offered in a distance education format. Many of the topics covered in the new Direct Service Provider Orientation were not covered in the previous orientation self-study format . This interactive training requires providers to view narrated PowerPoint presentations, complete self-assessment questions, and apply the newly learned concepts by completing several Application Station exercises. The training, which consists of six modules, focuses on the following content areas:
Overview of First Steps
Natural Environments
Procedural Safeguards
Working as a Team to provide Family-Centered Care
Home Visiting
Mechanics for Direct Service Providers

After providers complete the six modules, they are required to take an online assessment and achieve an 80% or higher and complete application stations for the 6 modules.

Once registered you will receive a confirmation email within 2 business days. Within 7 business days you should receive a packet in the mail with the appropriate materials.

Please note: There is a 45 day timeline in which to complete this training. The time to complete is approximately 10 hours. The date listed on the training calendar to register is the last day of the month that you may register for that training. It does not coincide with your due date or date you will start the training. Your 45 day timeline begins the day you register for the training

Credential Units: 1.0

FSCT- Service Coordination Refresher Course
Restricted Audience: Intake/Ongoing Service Coordinators who entered the system prior to December 2007.
Description: Service Coordination is one of the most important roles in early intervention. Service coordinators must be properly trained, well-informed and have a variety of skills. The service coordinator training modules have been designed to help you continue your professional development. Unlike many states, Indiana’s service coordinators do not provide any other direct early intervention services. This allows the service coordinator to focus on the needs and wants of the family, while ensuring that the child is receiving all services written into his or her Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP).
These 7 training modules will provide you with comprehensive information about state and federal legislation, resources, practical strategies and hands-on activities. You will come away with a basic understanding of First Steps and your role as service coordinator. In your cluster, your service coordinator supervisor can assist you to further develop your skills as you work with children, families, providers and community

Please note: There is a 45 day timeline in which to complete this training. The time to complete is approximately 10 hours.

Credential Units: 1.0

FSCT- Providing EI Supports and Services in Everyday Routines, Activities, and Places -
Unrestricted Audience: Direct Service Providers and Intake/Ongoing Service Coordinators
Description: By completing this training, participants will be able to:
understand the value of providing early intervention services in natural environments, understand the importance of identifying a family’s everyday routines, activities, and places, identify the elements of quality service early intervention supports and services, design early intervention activities that include the features of quality supports and services. Through this interactive self-study, participants will learn the guiding principles for providing early intervention services and supports in everyday routines, activities, and places and the key features of quality early intervention supports and services. Participants will observe these principles and features being applied while viewing vignettes on Larry Edelman’s DVD, Just Being Kids. Participants will also receive planning tools that can be used to identify a family’s routines so participants can develop early intervention activities that encompass the family’s natural environment.

Once registered you will receive a confirmation email within 2 business days. Within 7 business days you should receive a packet in the mail with the appropriate materials.

Please note: There is a 45 day timeline in which to complete this training. The time to complete is approximately 5 hours. The date listed on the training calendar to register is the last day of the month that you may register for that training. It does not coincide with your due date or date you will start the training. Your 45 day timeline begins the day you register for the training

Credential Units: .5

A Family-Centered Approach to Procedural Safeguards

Unrestricted Audience: Direct Service Providers and Intake/Ongoing Service Coordinators

Description: Are your families being “Mirandized” when you present the procedural safeguards to them? In other words, do you present them in a “you have the right to….” manner, then move on to signing the consent and release forms? What if families have a complaint with the First Steps System? Do you know how to explain the complaint procedures to them? These and other concerns are addressed in the First Steps Core Training: A Family-Centered Approach to Procedural Safeguards.

Explaining procedural safeguards in a way that families can understand them and, equally important, when families need them is the responsibility of both the service coordinators (intake and ongoing) and direct service providers. The first two sections of this training address the reasons for procedural safeguards and examine typical ways in which safeguards are presented to families and why these presentation methods may fail the families. The final sections focus on five family-centered techniques for presenting the safeguards to the families and allow participants the opportunity to increase their understanding of the safeguards and enhance their skills in using family-friendly terms.

By learning how to view the safeguards from the family’s perspective, by learning the importance of reiterating the safeguards, and by learning the importance of using a conversational approach to present the safeguards, participants will leave this training with the tools to assure that families are fully informed in ways that support their role as the primary decision maker in the early intervention process.

Once registered you will receive a confirmation email within 2 business days. Within 7 business days you should receive a packet in the mail with the appropriate materials.

Please note: There is a 45 day timeline in which to complete this training. The time to complete is approximately 4 hours. The date listed on the training calendar to register is the last day of the month that you may register for that training. It does not coincide with your due date or date you will start the training. Your 45 day timeline begins the day you register for the training.

Credential Units: .4