Developmental Specialist - bilingual

Alta Mira Specialized Family Services Inc.; Albuquerque (NM); On-site; USD 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Sign-on bonus $1000

PTO 150–304 hours/yr

Paid sick leave

Paid holidays

Winter break paid

Educational leave 40 hours

SIMPLE IRA matching

Group life and LTD

Vision and Dental plans

Mileage reimbursement

Job summary

Alta Mira is a non-profit organization serving individuals with developmental or intellectual delays and their families since 1985. This full-time role involves coordinating early intervention assessments, developing IFSPs, and partnering with families to support child outcomes.

A NM driver's license or reliable transportation is required for home visits, with a strong emphasis on multidisciplinary collaboration.

Qualifications

• Two years of experience in Early Intervention required.
• NM certification as Developmental Specialist 2 and 3 required (DS2/DS3).
• Current NM driver’s license or reliable transportation.
• Bachelor’s degree for DS2 and Master’s degree for DS3 are required.

Responsibilities

• Participate in initial and ongoing developmental assessments for infants and toddlers.
• Administer, score, and interpret formal testing instruments; ensure culturally appropriate procedures.
• Integrate informal assessments with formal testing for holistic evaluation reports.
• Review evaluation reports and provide feedback on content, grammar, and accuracy.
• Assist with IFSP development, ECO summaries, and annual reviews.
• Collaborate with families and team members to plan and implement individualized services.

Skills

Bilingual (Spanish/English)

Transportation to home visits

Team-based collaboration

Education

NM Developmental Specialist 2/3 certification

Bachelor’s/Master’s degree in related field

Job description

Please review the educational requirements below. Are you bilingual? Do you love working with families and children? Do you have a degree? Then this job is for you! We are willing to train the right candidates.

Alta Mira is a non-profit organization that has been supporting individuals with developmental or intellectual delays or disabilities, and their families, since 1985. We provide services to all age groups. We support over 800 children annually through our Early Intervention Program and 1500 adults in our Family Support Services. We employ over 60 employees and 250 independent contractors. We are an excellent employer with a high level of schedule flexibility and very rich benefits. We are one of New Mexico’s Top Workplaces in the category of work/life balance.

This is a full-time, 40-hour-per-week position.

Benefits

• $1000 sign-on bonus
• Paid Time Off – from 150 to 304 hours a year
• Paid Sick Leave - 1 hour for every 30 hours worked
• Paid Holidays – 5 holidays per year
• Winter Break – agency is closed from December 24th through New Year’s Day (paid)
• Educational Leave – 40 hours after 6 months of employment
• Bereavement Leave – up to 24 hours
• Medical – 3 plans to choose from through BCBS, ranging in premiums from $0 to $159.21.
• Dental - free
• Vision – vision through VSP at $2.05
• SIMPLE IRA – Matched $1 for $1 by the agency for the first 3% of employees' annual pay
• Group life and Long-Term Disability – agency pays for 25K
• Individual life and Short-Term Disability – available, paid by employee
• Mileage reimbursement - $0.725 per mile, if required to drive during work hours for work purposes
• Discount Program
• We are a 501c3 program that allows employees to enroll their student loans in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness through the Federal government.

Skills

• Bilingual in Spanish and English preferred.
• Able to provide reliable transportation for home visits.
• Able to work as a trans-disciplinary team member.

Experience

• 2 years’ experience required. More than 2 years of previous Early Intervention experience.
• New Mexico certification as a Developmental Specialist 2, bachelor’s degree required.
• New Mexico certification as a Developmental Specialist 3, master’s degree required.
• Current New Mexico driver's license, or ability to arrange transportation to meet agency needs assigned.

Job Responsibilities

• Participate as a team member in initial and ongoing developmental assessment activities with infants and toddlers in the areas of communication, play, cognition, fine and gross motor skills, adaptive behavior, and social/emotional skills.
• Administer, score, and interpret formal testing instruments as appropriate. Testing procedures are carried out accurately and reliably, and in a manner that is culturally, linguistically, and developmentally appropriate.
• Integrate informal assessment, behavioral observation, developmental history, and information regarding everyday routines and activities with formal testing information to reflect a holistic view of the child and his/her needs in the written evaluation report.
• Review the written evaluation report and give feedback to the SC regarding assessment information, grammar, spelling, and overall content of the report.
• Support SC in completing ECO summary forms at the initial IFSP and subsequent IFSP meetings.
• Carry out assessment procedures in a sensitive manner regarding the family’s everyday routines and activities.
• Participate in eligibility determination.
• Collaborate with families and other staff during team assessments.
• Participate in planning an appropriate Early Intervention program for each child and family through the IFSP process (including the initial IFSP and subsequent reviews).
• Actively participate with team members and parents in IFSP development (initial and annual) and reviews.
• Partner with the family and other team members to develop individualized strategies which incorporate the family’s everyday routines and activities.
• Partner with the family and other team members to determine the best support and services needed in order to help the family achieve their outcomes.
• Build relationships with children and family that support a working partnership to accomplish the IFSP goals.
• Assure Special Instruction services start within 30 days of the IFSP meeting. If services do not start within 30 days, documents reason.
• Assure that Special Instruction services are delivered according to the IFSP. If there are missed visits or gaps in services, the reason must be documented.

Relationship Building

• Utilize appropriate listening, observation, and interviewing skills to identify the family’s/caregiver’s perceptions of their child’s abilities, strengths, and needs.
• Support the family as the primary decision-maker and promote their acquisition of knowledge, skills, and confidence in identifying and carrying out outcomes for their child.
• Build on family strengths to design, coordinate, implement, and evaluate interventions that are individualized, naturalistic, and family-centered.
• Respond to: Share accurate information on developmental skills of the infant/child based on observations, developmental screening tools, and/or discussion with parent/caregiver.
• Demonstrate awareness of the impact of disability on development; has the ability to identify resources and may assist the parent in gaining more complete information on a variety of subjects that include etiology, characteristics, and classifications of common disabilities in infants and toddlers.
• Model for family/caregiver strategies to support learning, including encouragement to access community resources and support.
• Assist parent/caregiver in anticipating next steps in development.
• Provides appropriate community resources and information when requested by parents.

Parent-Child Relationship

• Demonstrate the ability to help parents identify how to use appropriate toys and other materials that are available to them within their home and community activities.
• Observe, reinforce, and nurture the caregiver-infant toddler relationship to:
• Help parents understand their role in the social and emotional development of infants and toddlers.
• Help parents understand what they can do to promote health, language, and cognitive development in infancy and early childhood.
• Help parents find pleasure in caring for their infants/young children.
• Support and facilitate family and child interactions as primary contexts for learning and development.
• Collaborate and consult with other team members to promote optimal child and family development and needed family services without duplication, gaps, or delays.
• Attend and actively participate in team and staff meetings.