Transition/Child Find Committee – Allen/Adams/Huntington/Wells

9/15/15

Possibilities Northeast; Fort Wayne, IN

Time: 8:30am – 9:20am

Meeting participants: Kaeleigh Porter (LPCC Coordinator), Candace Lisinicchia (HCCSC Preschool Coordinator), Theresa Sell (AWSSC Preschool Coordinator), Kathy Weibel (FWCS Resource), Nichole Hall (Brightpoint Head Start), Paula Fox (Turnstone), Nancy Moore (PNE), Kim Cornman (PNE), Mary Ellen Schreck (SPOE Coordinator Supervisor), Lily Osborn (SPOE Director), Clare Mann (1st Kids), Nicole Wysong (Early Childhood Alliance), Stephanie Furnas (Hand in Hand; Participated Via Phone)

Introductions were made.

Meeting minutes were reviewed. Nancy made a motion to approve the meeting minutes from last meeting; Kathy seconded the motion.

Updates:

First Steps: Lily announced that there will be a new Ongoing Service Coordinator for Grant County, which will bring Danielle Sevrence up to service Allen County. Jessica Greene will be covering Huntington and Wabash counties. Clare Mann discussed Late Referral/DOE Agreement with the committees. Clare discussed that the State is looking for a smaller school district to take on this pilot project. Theresa expressed concerns with how billing would be hard to establish for the therapists because they are hired through a co-op school system, in some districts. Clare reassured everyone that the school systems can use the same tool they typically use for evaluations but First Steps will need to be able to see the standard deviations, if any are present, in order to determine eligibility for the First Steps program. Kathy pointed out that there are some evaluations that are done with psychologists that First Steps doesn’t cover in their evaluation and she wasn’t sure what that would look like, along with the fact that psychologists in the school systems are only required to have a Master’s degree whereas psychologists for First Steps are required to have Ph.Ds. Clare will look into the process with psychologists and get clarification.

School System:

Huntington County – Candy reported that their preschool moved into an elementary school building. No new updates to report on but referrals are going well.

Adams/Wells Special Services – Theresa reported that they are busy but referrals are going well and Service Coordinators are doing a great job.

Fort Wayne Community Schools – Kathy reports that everything is going well and referrals and the process have gotten much better compared to last year.

Head Start: Nichole reported that there have been many more invitations for Head Start to attend transition meetings for children in First Steps. She reported that there have been some changes in Head Start classrooms. All of the Head Start locations except Hanna-Creighton are now implementing the following classroom schedules: Full Day/Part Year – 8am to 2pm, 1 AM class, 1 PM class. The Hanna-Creighton location is implementing the following classroom schedules: 2 Full Day/Full Year classrooms, 2 Full Day/Part Year classrooms, 2 AM classrooms, and 2 PM classrooms.

Early Head Start: N/A

Agencies:

Possibilities Northeast – Nancy reported that PNE is looking for providers due to providers leaving to work for the school systems, nursing homes, etc. PNE just recently lost Adams/Wells ST, Grant ST, and social worker. Nancy reported that she is hoping to contact the Bowen Center in Auburn, Indiana to see if they can contract social workers and psychologists to help within their agency.

Hand in Hand – Stephanie reported that she has recently hired three new ST’s and DT-C’s who can serve full time in Adams, Wells, and Grant counties. PNE and Hand in Hand have been doing some provider sharing to help with the loss of key providers in specific counties. Hand in Hand is hoping to hire a COTA and PTA soon. Stephanie reported that Hand in Hand representatives recently attended training regarding Feeding. Hand in hand is planning to begin to offer feeding therapy to existing clients in January. If this is successful they will expand the service. Hand in Hand was present at the Autism Walk at Allen County Fairgrounds on September 13, 2015. Stephanie reported that they helped to represent First Steps at the walk because First Steps was not able to be present at the walk.

Preschool:

Nicole Wysong reported that she was responsible for posting a blog on the Early Childhood Alliance website. She posted First Steps ‘Red Flags’ on development for infants and toddlers and also reported on children 4-5 years old milestones from the Center of Disease.

Turnstone – Paula Fox was present and reported on how services were going at Turnstone. Paula reminded us that Turnstone no longer has a preschool but they do have a daycare. The daycare currently has openings and that there is a fee. Children from 2 years to 13 years old are able to use the daycare services. Families with children who have disabilities are offered a sliding fee scale but typically developing children do not have access to the sliding fee scale.

Transition Events: Kaeleigh reported on how she is attending a Developmental Screening Day at Bona Vista in Kokomo at the end of September. Kaeleigh will also be attending the Health and Safety Fall Fest in Marion, Indiana on October 1st. No committee members had suggestions of other transition events in the next few months.

Questions/Concerns: Kathy asked if First Steps is working with Lisa Bergeron, MD at the Pediatric Developmental Care Clinic with Parkview North. Clare said that First Steps was not involved with that program. Clare briefly discussed that we are working with Lutheran Children’s Hospital to follow up with NICU babies after they are discharged. The State is allowing First Steps to use the evaluation completed at the NICU for First Steps eligibility.

Adjourn: Nancy made a motion to approve adjournment of meeting. Theresa seconded it.

Next Meeting: Tuesday, November 17th at 8:30am at Hand in Hand