1 Year Anniversary for St. Louis Area SPOE

July 1 2010 marks the 1 year anniversary of AWS as the contractor for the St. Louis Area SPOE. We have been very busy over the past 12 months adjusting to changes and working with the community to ensure that we are continuing to provide supports to the families we serve. As we venture into the second year of our contract, we'd like to take a moment to look back at the last year as well as look forward to more successes and opportunities to improve the role we play in the lives of families.

Since July 1, 2009 we have:

• Established 1 central SPOE office that accepts referrals and provides service coordination for the entire St. Louis Metropolitan Area
• Transitioned our Family Service Coordinators to working in the community from their home offices
• Begun the implementation of Early Intervention Teams by creating a pilot team for St. Louis City in Dec. 2009 while continuing the pilot for St. Louis County. In addition to the pilots, held numerous EIT Workgroup meetings throughout the metropolitan area where we shared details regarding our plan to implement EIT in the area and gathered input from a variety of stakeholders


• With consent from both committees, successfully combined the local RICC's for Region 1 and Region 2 into 1 unified group


• Obtained a perfect 4 rating for both SPOE Regions from the state based on criteria set by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in regards to meeting timelines and accuracy of data.
• As a final step to moving forward with the state's plan for EIT in Missouri, obtained final approval of our EIT plan from DESE

It has been a very exciting year and we look to continue our momentum with goals we have ahead of us:

• Implementing the next phase of Early Intervention Teams in the metro area
• Continuing our efforts to establish and improve our relationships with community partners and First Steps referral sources
• Continue to meet the standards set forth by DESE and OSEP regarding SPOE performance standards
• Insist on providing quality supports that aim to build family confidence and their capacity to meet their own individualized goals

Thank you, and we look forward to another year working together!

***UPDATED FIRST STEPS AT GUIDANCE***

Please be aware that DESE has updated the First Steps process for authorizing and obtaining Assistive Tech and Adaptive Equipment devices. Please read below and follow the link to review this guidance. The St. Louis Area SPOE will begin following this procedure immediately as we will be informing our Service Coordination staff as well as the rest of the provider community. If you should have any questions, please contact the SPOE office at the information below.
Highlights of new guidance:
*Verifying need for 3 bids for non-customized equipment obtained by SPOE
*New Form for Family Service Coordinators to submit to SPOE for processing
*Verification of ownership: Family owns the equipment if they have given FS consent to bill private insurance
FS owns the equipment if family has not given consent to bill private insurance or if the family is covered under public insurance (i.e. MO HealthNet)

Message To: Service Coordinators and Service Providers
From: Pam Thomas, Coordinator of the First Steps program
Date: June 14, 2010
There were several new or revised documents posted to the First Steps website today related to Assistive Technology (AT) in First Steps.Topics include AT services and resources, IFSP discussions about AT, and frequently asked Questions and Answers. These documents can be viewed on the First Steps website at:
http://www.dese.mo.gov/divspeced/FirstSteps/AssistTech.htm