Reflective Questions to Accompany the "Honoring Family Culture in Early Intervention" Videos

Part 1: Isai and Eliel’s Story
Part 2: Max’s Story

After watching the two videos, the questions below may help administrators and practitioners reflect on the extent that their program and practices address the themes identified in the videos.

Reflective questions for program administrators about honoring and supporting family culture

To what extent does your program:

• Assure that your staff are trained to work with families from different cultures and/or who speak other languages?
• Hire staff who are members of the same cultures communities and speak the same languages as the families that your program serves?
• Use a role similar to Amigo Baby’s role of Culturally Appropriate Communicators to help bridge communication and relationships between early interventionists and families from differing cultures?
• Support staff to recognize and address personal biases?
Assure that your staff are adequately trained to include and work with various family members, including mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and other caregivers?
• Provide resources, referral, and support to help address socio-economic and cultural challenges experienced by families, including:
  • Insufficient income
  • Lack of affordable housing
  • Lack of access to health care
  • Food insecurity
  • Inadequate transportation
  • Language barriers
• Assure that your staff have adequate resources to provide services in families’ primary languages?
• Assure that families have adequate devices, bandwidth, and knowledge to participate in virtual services?

Next Steps: Given your responses to these questions, what actions will you take to better honor and support family culture in your program and practices?

Reflective questions for practitioners about honoring and supporting family culture

To what extent do you:

• Provide services to families in their primary languages?
• Partner with a teammate, similar to Amigo Baby’s role of Culturally Appropriate Communicator, to assist you in communicating and forming relationships with families from differing cultures and/or who speak other languages?
• Recognize that families may need to focus on meeting their basic needs for income, housing, food, health care, and transportation before focusing on early intervention goals?
• Provide resources, referral, and support to help families address socio-economic and cultural challenges?
• Include and work effectively with various family members, including mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins, and other caregivers?
• Flexibly follow the lead of families during in-person and virtual home visits to assure the visits are relevant to what’s going on in families’ lives at a given time?
• Use a coaching approach that supports caregivers’ confidence and competence in supporting their children’s learning, development, and participation?
• Work with materials, songs, games, and books that are relevant to families and part of their cultures?
• Assist families in understanding and being able to complete paperwork?
• When providing virtual services, use video conferencing and communication applications that work best for families?
• Seek to continually build your own knowledge and skills related to understanding and communicating with families of different cultures and languages, using effective coaching practices, and partnering with team members?

Next Steps: Given your responses to these questions, what actions will you take to better honor and support family culture in your program and practices?