The Benson Family The Benson’s have worked with the Early Intervention staff and enjoyed following up with their suggestions. Tyler, Molly’s brother, has been a great help with Molly and has helped out with the physical therapy exercises rather than playing on the tennis team as he has in the past. His teachers report that he misses tennis and has been complaining to his friends. Mr. Benson is not quite as busy as Mrs. Benson, who is a top executive with a manufacturing company about 20 miles outside of town. She states that it is very difficult for her to coordinate the meetings for the different therapies and still manage her work schedule. Mr. Benson is the president of his local Parent to Parent group and reports that he is frustrated that he still has to carry Molly around and sometimes he becomes very frustrated when she acts out. He wants her to hurry up and grow up. He says that he does not remember care for a child to be so demanding. He would like to apply for jobs but he is always taking Molly to different therapies and he no longer has the confidence that he can talk to an adult after spending every afternoon with Molly. Coordinating the appointments is difficult, but he wants information about when she will be able to ask for things. He claims that he does not know how to meet her needs. Mrs. Benson thinks he is takes things too seriously and is doing fine. About Molly (15 months) Assessments used: Early Intervention Developmental Profile Behavioral Observations Clinical Evaluations by the physical therapist Molly was very cooperative and smiled during the play assessments at the center. She saw me and crawled over on her hands and knees with a big smile on her face. Her teachers report that her disposition is usually pleasant. She sat and reached for some toys and easily manipulated the parts of the toy: had good hand control and finger movement. She pushed it towards me and grunted in an invitation to play. I asked her to “find the duck” and she was able to manipulate the “door” on the popup toy. She laughed when the duck popped up. I asked her to do it again and she did not respond. I covered the pop-up toy with a blanket when she wasn’t watching. I asked her “Molly, where’s the duck?” She removed the blanket and laughed. I stayed during lunch period and she successfully attempted self-feeding using her fingers and a training cup. Although she was slower than the other children, that was because she used gestures. She does not consistently point to body parts, toys, pictures in a book, etc. The language therapist reports that she has normal hearing. The early intervention teacher reports that they have many family and friends to help and that the parents have been very pleased with Molly’s progress in the early intervention program.
Directions: Once you have read about the Benson Family, answer the questions listed below. 1. When this child has their next IFSP meeting, according to the information that you have just read, who would make up the members of the IFSP team? 2. Identify 10 of Molly’s Strengths 3. Identify 3 of Molly’s Needs 4. Identify 6 of the families strengths 5. Identify 5 needs that the family has identified 6. Select two developmental areas that you believe are priorities (based upon the information you have just read) and provide support for your choices. 7. Develop 3 goals – a. 2 specific to Molly’s developmental progress b. 1 specific to the family’s needs c. Come up with activities (at least 2) to support each goal and tell me who will do the activity, it can be more than one person, you do not have to be the person responsible for working on the goal. d. How will progress toward the goal be monitored? *It will be important to remember components of a goal when completing this part of the assignment
