What Exactly is a
Primary Service Provider?
One professional provides weekly support to
the family, backed up by a team of other
professionals who provide services to the
child and family through joint home visits
with the primary service provider. The
intensity of joint home visits depends on
child, family, and primary-service-provider
needs.
McWilliam, 2010
The Purpose of the PSP
 Enable
families to establish and maintain
an ongoing working relationship with a lead
team member with needed expertise who
then becomes an expert on the whole
child and family
 PSP teaming requires an
interconnectedness of all team members
regarding their role in promoting parentmediated child learning and development.
Primary Service Provider Model
 The
PSP acts as the principle program
resource and point of contact
 The PSP mediates the family’s and other
care providers’ skills and knowledge in
relation to a range of needed or desired
resources
 The team members use coaching
practices to build the capacity of parents
and other primary care providers
Benefits of a PSP Model
 Relationship
between practitioner, family
members and other care providers
enhanced
 Efficient use of family and program
resources
 Reducing both gaps and overlaps in
supports and services
Misunderstandings about the
PSP Model
 It
limits services
 It forces staff to be “generalists” - not
“Early Interventionists”
 It provides “indirect treatment”
 Direct service is better
 It restricts family choice
 It violates professional ethics
Characteristics of a PSP Team
 Members
include at least an early
childhood special educator, OT, PT, SLP
and service coordinator(s) with expertise
in child development, family support and
coaching
May
have social work, psychology or
other disciplines as needed
 Geographically
Responsible
based
for all referrals within a
predetermined area
Capacity of a PSP Team
 Caseload
Shelden
and Rush: 7 FTEs can serve 100125 families when drive time does not
exceed 30 – 45 minutes one way
McWilliam: 16 visits per week
Five PSP Implementation Conditions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
All team members must be available (and willing)
to serve as a PSP.
All team members must attend regular team
meetings for the purpose of colleague-tocolleague coaching
The team must use a consistent process to select a
PSP according to four factors: parent/family, child,
environmental, practitioner.
All team members shall participate in joint home
visits as necessary
A PSP should change as infrequently as possible.
Sheldon and Rush 2013
Critical Issues in a PSP Model
 Each
 Be
team member must
an evidence based practitioner in:
 his/her own discipline
 early intervention
 early childhood development
 parent education and family support
 Be an active participant in all team meetings
 Take an active role in professional
learning/development
 Be willing to share knowledge with rest of team
 See parent (rather than child) as focus of
intervention
Shelden & Rush
Critical Issues in a PSP Model
Effective
team members
 Are
agreeable
 Are conscientious
 Have high general mental ability
 Are competent in their area of expertise
 Are high in openness to experience and
mental stability
 Like teamwork
 Socialized to the organizational culture
Bell, 2004
What We Know
 Leadership


Administrative support for use of the approach is
essential
Program administrators must attend at least some
team meetings
 Early


Same team should support families from initial referral
through transition
Primary coaches do not (and should not) change
frequently
 Joint



Intervention Process
Visits
15-20% of total visits are joint visits
Disciplines other than core, may require more joint visits
Three steps are required for joint visits to be effective
What We Know
 Team Meetings
 All team members must attend all meetings
 Meetings average less than 1 ½ hours per week
 Meetings need a competent, consistent facilitator
 The order in which items occur on the agenda
matters
 Teams that meet weekly learn and implement
practices
 Weekly meetings lead to higher accountability
among team members
 When coaching occurs at team meetings, the
practices are implemented
 Time

Moving to a primary coach approach takes intensive
support over time