As of August 1, 2012, Amy Tarr has been designated as the Part C (Early Intervention) Coordinator for the state of Illinois. Amy's former position was as Deputy General Counsel with the Department and was responsible for providing legal guidance to many Department programs, including the Early Intervention Program. She has been with the Department since 2000. Amy has alreaady visited with many CFCs, providers and families across Illinois. We are all delighted to welcome her to this exciting new role!

The recent revisions to Illinois' policies and procedures that took place July 1, 2012 included the beginning of a new family assessment process which includes service coordinators using a Routines Based Interview with  all families entering the Illinois EI System.  A full day training for all service coordinators took place over a three week period in September and early October at 11 locations with over 500 CFC staff in attendance. The rationale for incorporating family assessment into the intake process, and the impact these have on families was be discussed. Video examples and interactive activities were used to highlight strategies for making the family assessment process a useful and engaging time with families. We are moving forward with an online version of this training for providers which should be up on our website,www.illinoisietraining.org, later this fall.  Below is a brief 8 minute video from Dr. Robin McWilliam, creator of the Routines Based Interview, explaining the impact this new process can have on the families we work with. 

All early interventionists are strongly encouraged to log into the EI Training Program website www.illinoiseitraining.org. You can also do this by simply clicking one of the links above to explore! You'll find timely information on trainings provided by the EI Training Program as well as other entities. Providers, this is the best way to access current information on service provision, trainings, credentialing, enrollment, billing and early intervention laws and policies. You can set up your own account on our website and track your early intervention training activity! Check it out! 

Great news from the credit request front!  Both ASHA and AOTA (the national professional groups for speech and occupational therapists) have contacted us to develop a working relationship for submitting their professional development opportunities for Illinois EI credit.  This is a huge step in validating the changes that were implemented to the credit request process earlier this year.  To view the credit request process procedures please visit our Credit Request page on our website.

Approved E-Fax Services

  

After a review by the Early Intervention Program and DHS Privacy Officer, the following E-Fax providers have been determined to meet all HIPAA and FERPA requirements as set forth by the Part C regulations and are approved for use.

 

www.sfaxme.com (Based in Texas)

www.faxage.com (Based in Denver)

www.innoport.com (Based in Philadelphia)

 

In order to be considered a "Business Associate" as covered by HIPAA, providers will need to have a signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with each E-Fax provider utilized. All of the above referenced providers offer BAAs. Providers choosing to utilize an E-Fax provider are responsible for establishing an account with the vendor and ensuring all proper agreements are in place prior to use.

The criteria used in evaluating the above vendors includes:

• not utilizing third party vendors to store and transmit data,
• executable BAAs,
• domestic data storage within the United States, and
• guaranteed HIPAA secure accounts for customers with BAAs.

If you have any questions regarding the use of E-Fax services please contact Blake Whitson at blake.whitson@illinois.gov. Specific questions regarding services should be directed to E-Fax vendors.

A National Science Foundation-backed report in the journal Science argues that children's natural learning style already reflects the scientific process educators will spend the next decade trying to instill in school-age students-if they can get an engaging environment to explore. The report emphasizes that ensuring each child has a nurturing environment to explore early on may be as or more important to getting them ready for school than ensuring they meet pre-literacy benchmarks. Click here to read the full article.