Individualizing Care

Individualizing Care Individualizing means recognizing the characteristics that make each child unique and planning a program that responds to these differences. Individualizing allows families and staff to respond to each child’s built-in time clock for development, as well as culture, family, home language, life experiences, strengths, needs, skills, and abilities. Early care and education programs can best meet the needs of children with chronic conditions by following a systematic process of Individualized Health Planning. For children who are eligible for an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP), the IEP or IFSP may or may not include planning for the child’s health care needs. In addition, many children with special health needs who are not eligible for an IEP or IFSP would, in fact, benefit from individualized health planning.

Individualized health planning for children with chronic conditions involves close communication and collaboration among families, the early care and education program staff, and health care and service providers. It is a process of collecting all the necessary information from screening and evaluations, developing plans for the child’s routine and emergency care, conducting ongoing assessment, and revising the plans as needed. The plan should be documented in writing to serve as a clear guide for staff, families, and health care providers on meeting the child’s health needs.

Who Should Have an Individualized Health Plan? Children who would benefit from an Individualized Health Plan include any child who:

 Requires adaptations in daily activities because of a medical condition; daily activities to be considered include feeding, playing, sleeping, toileting

 Needs medication regularly

 Requires a specialized emergency plan

The decision to develop an Individualized Health Plan for a child should be made collaboratively by the family, health specialists, and classroom teacher.

Figure 10.2 – Families, health care and service providers, and early care and education programs

can work together to make sure children with special health needs get the care they need.