Carlena Lowell 1

Competency #2 Reflection
This competency area, Collaborative Consultation, Service Coordination and Teaming,
is one in which I gained a great deal of knowledge and skills I am able to currently apply in my
professional position as a Child Development Services (CDS) Part C service coordinator, and to
the role I held prior as an early childhood special educator. The products I chose to use as
evidence of my knowledge and skills in this area came from two practicums I completed: SEI
516 Seminar and Practicum in Collaborative Consultation for Early Childhood and SEI 513:
Practicum in Early Intervention. I was fortunate to begin work as a Part C service coordinator
while enrolled in this program. Experiencing these two roles simultaneously allowed me the
opportunity to apply my professional work to my academic requirements, and to reflect in depth
upon my professional work. With certainty, I would have not learned the responsibilities of a
Part C service coordinator as quickly or as well as I was able to with the practical work and
reflection required in the courses in this program. The three products demonstrating my
knowledge of this competency area are: 1.) documentation and reflection of the administration of
two Battelle Developmental Inventory-II (BDI-II) evaluations, 2.) documentation and reflection
of the facilitation of three initial Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) eligibility meetings,
and 3.) a reflection paper about my experiences in SEI 516.
As part of the Individual Practicum Plan (IPP) I developed for SEI 513, I included
activities in which I felt I needed to improve upon as a Part C service coordinator, and as a
member of an Early Intervention team. Although I do not regularly complete BDI-IIs as a
service coordinator for my particular CDS site, I am able to as I have been trained in
administering them, and I hold a 282 certification. All of my experience with BDI-II evaluations
has been with preschool aged children; therefore, I wanted to increase my knowledge and skills
of administering BDI-IIs to children under three years old so as to be a more valuable member of
Carlena Lowell 2
Competency #2 Reflection
the Early Intervention team. This assignment was actual evaluations I completed for CDS as a
member of a multi-disciplinary team; the children evaluated both qualified for services. This
product represents sub-competency 2.1 Knowledge of various team models and configurations.
The second product selected for this competency area is an activity I developed to
increase my knowledge and skills of the roles and responsibilities of a Part C service coordinator
by facilitating and reflecting on three initial IFSP eligibility meetings. I used the individualized
practicum, SEI 513, as an opportunity to consider the way in which I facilitated them by greatly
reflecting on specific meetings. I then shaped the way I participate in them by bettering the
questions I ask parents to elicit outcomes and the way in which I explain the IFSP and parental
rights. I appreciate the real-life application of this, and the previous, assignment; both enabled
me to progress both professionally and academically. The facilitation and reflection of initial
IFSP meetings is evidence of sub-competency 2.5 Knowledge of roles and responsibilities of
service coordinators.
The third product representative of this competency area is a reflection paper written to
discuss my experiences in collaborative consultation. I was able to complete this practicum with
my co-teacher in a Head Start classroom, which was hugely beneficial not only to me in learning
about collaborative consultation and coaching, but also to our classroom and a particular family
we worked with. I chose this paper to for sub-competency 2.7 Ability to establish and maintain
an effective consultative relationship. Becoming a reflective thinker is one of the most important
skills I have gained from this graduate program. Reflective thinking has taught to evaluate
myself, academically, professionally, and personally, and to consider many aspects of a situation
before coming to a conclusion. This reflection paper is cross-referenced with 8.2 Ability to
evaluate your personal strengths and needs as they relate to your professional role.