Developing the individual support services plan in any setting

The ISSP process should enable all personnel to feel supported in their work with individual children. It provides parents, children, and professionals with a mechanism for input, formal planning and ongoing collaboration. It documents the support services being given by most other if not all providers in Education, Health, Human Resources and Employment and Justice and the linkage between those and the child's/youth's plan. It serves as a tool to track individual strengths and needs in terms of agreed upon goals related to specific interventions and learning.

The model for the ISS planning process presented in Figure 1 (and outlined in detail in Appendix D) illustrates the steps for planning for individual children/youth whose needs are identified at any time during the developmental years. Individual agencies may have developed their own similar planning processes and should bring their process and vocabulary in line with that outlined in this document to ensure everyone is using the same jargon, improving communication between parents and all service providers.

The process is sequential and the point of entry will depend on the child's needs and whether there has been prior involvement. As described earlier, some children who come to the attention of your agency will be already receiving services from other agencies and have an ISSP and an ISS Manager in place.

STEP	ACTION	WHO
Screening and Identification (possible entry point)	need is recognized begin to clarify problem begin keeping a record of the child's strengths and needs in the area	child parent service providers
Assessment and Exploration of Strategies	use a problem solving process target specific strategies if school age and the child is using "regular" curriculum add to record of the child's strengths and needs	child parent service providers from Health, Human Resources and Employment, Justice and Education other agencies
Ongoing Evaluation and Monitoring (possible exit point)	evaluate strategies if successful, terminate process if not successful: - give it more time or - advance to next step	parent service providers from Health, Human Resources and Employment, Justice and Education other agencies
Referral to Individual Support Services Planning Team	ensure pre-referral activities completed ensure the child's records are updated complete referral form obtain consent to share information	parent Individual Support Service Manager (if other than parent) child service providers
Team Meeting	ISS Manager calls meeting elect ISS Manager (if one is not in place) arrive at consensus on strengths and needs; and service areas arrive at consensus on priority goals problem solve to arrive at plan identify supports and services set responsibility areas set date for review meeting	child parent ISS Manager service providers from Education, Health, Human Resources & Employment, Justice, community persons and others as needed
ISS Plan Developed	continue with pre-referral activities or complete remaining portions of the ISSP	child service providers from Education, Health, Human Resources and Employment, Justice other service providers
Implementation of Plan	team members carry out responsibilities as assigned ISS Manager ensures responsibilities carried out	team members
Review of Support Service Plan	ISS Manager calls meeting review child's progress evaluate success of the ISSP revise/refine list of child's strengths and needs; and service areas continue with ISSP as written or extend or revise ISSP or discontinue ISSP	team members

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