Question
Why can implementing a coaching model in Early Intervention (EI) be challenging for clinicians and families?
Answer
When I think about the challenges of implementing coaching in early intervention, I recognize that my professional role is really shifting toward a coaching model. This shift requires new attitudes and new behaviors. I need to be more in tune with what parents’ expectations might be, and I have to be honest with myself about where my own knowledge gaps are. I am also aware that terminology in the community can be inconsistent, depending on the state or community in which I practice, and that the exact words may have very different meanings to different people.
I have also come to better appreciate the stress and emotional burden caregivers face, as well as the burden families carry. I do not think I was educated enough early on about how hard it is to raise a child with a developmental delay or a specific diagnosis, or how exhausting it can be to hold that reality every day while also having professionals coming into the home. Even when we frame our visits as coaching, it is still a lot, and the lack of clarity about essential coaching skill components does not make it any easier. That is part of why we felt it would be helpful to offer a workshop on this topic for clinicians in the community. There are unclear pathways for acquiring coaching skills, and a lack of training is often observed in both andragogy (adult learning theory) and specific coaching strategies.
This Ask the Expert is an edited excerpt from the course, Using Adult Learning Theory to Enhance Coaching in Early Intervention, Pam Smithy, MS, OTR/L, Rhonda Mattingly Williams, EdD, CCC-SLP.
