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Abstract

A critical component of early intervention is teaming. Teaming is necessary to combine the expertise of multiple disciplines and to provide family-centered services for young children and their families. Teaming in which one provider serves as the primary liaison between the family and other team members is supported as best and recommended practices in early intervention. The primary service provider (PSP) approach to teaming has known benefits for families such as reduced stress and confusion. They develop one key relationship, and there is less repetition of the same information to different service providers and fewer professionals vising the home. Many programs in the United States and Australia are implementing this teaming approach. However, there are concerns and challenges with implementing a primary provider approach to teaming due to practitioner apprehension regarding professional identity, misperceptions about the teaming approach, and lack of preservice training. Limited research exists regarding professional perceptions of teaming in early intervention and none is specific to perceptions after participating with a team that has implemented the primary service provider approach to teaming. The purpose of this research was to examine team member perceptions associated with implementing a PSP approach to teaming. The following research questions were answered: 1) What are professional perceptions when implementing a primary service provider approach to teaming? 2) What is the relationship between team member perceptions and their length of time on a PSP team? 3) What is the relationship between perceptions and team member disciplines? The research design was non-experimental, descriptive, and quantitative using survey research. There were 351 responses to the survey from professionals currently participating on a PSP team. Responses include 295 PSP team members from the United States and 56 PSP team members from Australia. Australia PSP team members identify as Key Workers. Results suggested that overall early intervention professionals in the United States and Australia agree that PSP is an effective teaming approach for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families. Statistically significant differences were found with perceptions between those that had been on a PSP team for 6 to 10 years and those who were on a team for two years or less. Statistically significant differences were also noted between perceptions of team members from the early childhood special education/early intervention discipline and the physical therapy discipline. Few studies have been conducted on professional perceptions of teaming and minimal research exists related to perceptions in the field of early intervention. Understanding the perceptions of team members is an important step for improving implementation of recommended teaming practices.

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