QUESTIONS FOR ELICITING FAMILY INTERESTS PRIORITIES CONCERNS AND EVERYDAY

questions for eliciting family interests, priorities, concerns, and everyday routines and activities 1 july 2012 gathering informatio

QUESTIONS FOR ELICITING FAMILY INTERESTS, PRIORITIES, CONCERNS, AND
EVERYDAY ROUTINES AND ACTIVITIES 1
July 2012
Gathering information from families regarding their interests,
priorities, concerns and everyday routines and activities is best
accomplished through conversations with families rather than through a
formal interview or solely by the family completing out a needs
assessment form. Gathering this information is critical in order to
develop meaningful child and family outcomes/goals and to design
intervention strategies that build on family strengths and capacity.
The following questions are the kinds of questions that can be used in
conversations to elicit family responses:
*
Can you tell me about your day?
*
What happens most mornings? Afternoons? Nights? Weekends?
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Where do you and your child spend time?
*
What activities do you and your child like to do (e.g., hiking,
going on picnics, paying games at home)?
*
What activities do you and your child have to do on a regular
basis (e.g., go to the store, give kids a bath, feed the horses,
prepare meals, walk the dog)?
*
What are activities that you and your child have to do?
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What are your child’s interests?
*
What does your child enjoy and what holds your child’s attention?
(e.g., people, places, things such as toys, dog, being outside)
*
What makes your child happy, laugh and/or smile?
*
What routines and/or activities does your child not like? What
makes this routine and/or activity difficult and uncomfortable for
your child? What does your child usually do during the
routine/activity?
*
Who are key family members, other caregivers, or important people
who spend time with your child and in what settings does this
occur?
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Are there activities that you used to do before your child was
born that you would like to do again?
*
Are there new activities that you and your child would like to
try?
The focus of intervention has been shifting from the practitioner as
the expert with the toy bag as the means for enhancing the child’s
learning and development. Intervention strategies now focuses on
enhancing family/caregiver capacity and competence in facilitating
their child’s learning through naturally occurring learning
opportunities and participation in routines and activities that
families “need and want to do”. Strategies used in intervention should
build on the strengths and interests of both the child and
family/caregivers. Intervention sessions incorporate opportunities to
reflect with the family/caregivers on what is working and where
additional problem solving may be needed. As a result, conversations
with families and caregivers need to occur during each session in
order to provide appropriate support and enhance family/caregiver
capacity. The following questions are the kinds of questions that can
be used in conversations to elicit family/caregiver responses during
intervention sessions:
*
How have things been going since my last visit?
*
Do you have anything new you want to ask about?
*
Is there a time of day that’s not going well for you?
*
What would like help with? What supports would be helpful for you
and your child?
*
What have you thought about doing or trying?
When families/caregivers identify a specific challenge, the following
questions can be used to facilitate problem specific with them:
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What have you tried?
*
What has worked for you in the past? What hasn’t worked?
*
When does this behavior occur?
*
Who is involved?
*
What happened when . . .?
*
What do you mean by . . . .?
*
What do you want to see happen?
*
I remember when you did . . . . for . . . ., do you think
something like that might work for . . ..?
The following general statements can promote discussion and more
information:
*
Tell me more . . .
*
Tell me more about . . .
1 Questions were compiled from resource materials by Robin McWilliams,
Juliann Woods, Barbara Hanft, M’Lisa Shelden and Dathan Rush by NECTAC
2005