HEAD START®

Caring for Children with
Chronic Conditions

Training Guides for the Head Start Learning Community

Table of Contents | Preface | Introduction | Module 1 | Module 2 | Module 3
| Continuing Professional Development | Resources

MODULE 2: Activity 4 - Making It Our Own

Module 2 | Activity 1 | Activity 2 | Activity 3 | Key to Activity 3 | Activity 4 | Activity 5 | Activity 6 | Activity 7 | Next Steps

Purpose:

This activity helps Head Start staff customize an Individualized Health Plan form to meet the needs of their program.

For this activity you will need:

• Handout Q: Sample Individualized Health Plan
  
  
• Your program's health plan forms
  

Step 1:

Review the material in the Background Information section "Individualized Planning For Health."

Step 2:

Think about some children in your program that have special health care needs. Ask:

• What are the "what if" questions that most worry your teachers and your parents?
  

• Which children in your program might benefit from an Individualized Health Plan?

Step 3:

Discuss the issue further with parents of children with special health needs, teachers, managers, and members of your Health Services Advisory Committee. Try to determine:

• What is the criteria for determining which children with special health care needs get an Individualized Health Plan?
  
  
• What information do you want included on your program's Individualized Health Plan form?

Step 4:

Review your program's health history forms:

• What information has been helpful?
  

• What additional information is needed?

Step 5:

Using your own health history forms, Handout Q: Sample Individualized Health Plan, and other programs' health forms that you may have collected, draft an Individualized Health Plan form that meets your program's needs.

Step 6:

Choose one classroom in your program to test out the process. Using the criteria that you developed in Step 3, identify which children in the class should have an Individualized Health Plan.

• What proportion of the children in the class need an Individualized Health Plan?
  
  
• If every classroom in your program had the same proportion of children needing an Individualized Health Plan, could the program manage it?
  
  
• Might you need to revise your criteria for which children should have Individualized Health Plans?

Step 7:

Choose one child you identified in Step 6. With the consent and participation of his parent, try to complete the form you drafted in Step 5. If you find that some parts of the form are too difficult to complete, revise the form as needed.

Step 8:

Repeat Step 7 for another child and family, if possible.

Step 9:

Present your draft criteria and draft form for the Individualized Health Plan to your Health Services Advisory Committee. Have the management team and the HSAC work together to determine whether and how to implement individualized health planning in the program.

Points to Consider:

• The process and forms for Individualized Health Plans are most effective when they are tailored to the needs of the program.
  
  
• After drafting plans and forms, it is important to test how well they work. Often the strengths and weaknesses become apparent only upon implementation. Review and revise the process and forms yearly, if needed.