Early Intervention Practices to Enhance Adaptive Behavior and Resilience

By Shirley Zeitlin, Ed.D., & G. Gordon Williamson, Ph.D., O.T.R.

Early intervention professionals will turn to this informative book for a deeper understanding of how young children cope or adjust to the stresses of daily living. Based on the premise that effective coping facilitates effective learning, this essential guide explains how to integrate a child's developmental skills with daily functional living.

Step by step, this comprehensive guide shows how to assess coping behaviors, develop coping-oriented IFSPs through collaborative decision making implement individualized intervention strategies, and support parent-selected activities that enhance coping abilities. Also included are detailed case examples, sample forms, and well-organized charts — all designed to help support the efforts of those serving young children.

1. Introduction
2. The Coping Process
3. Adaptive Functioning in Young Children
4. The Family System
5. Planning Coping-Related Services
6. Assessment from a Coping Perspective
7. Intervention Planning
8. Intervention Strategies and Activities
9. Enhancing the Coping Resources of Families
10. Developing an IFSP with a Coping Perspective: First Steps
11. Completing the IFSP: Developing the 6-Month Implementation Plan
12. The COPING Project: Our Learning Experience
13. Experiences of Four Families
14. Staff Coping: Demands and Resources

Appendix A: Case Report of a Parent Support Group

Appendix B: Early Intervention and Development and Coping with Transition Workshops

Appendix C: Reflections of the Johnson Family