Return to: Georgia Sensory Assistance Project | On-line Newsletter | Revised 04/24/2004

Georgia PINES-INSITE Program

Georgia Parent Infant Network for Educational Services - www.gapines.net

The Georgia Sensory Assistance Project primarily provides services for children birth to three through Georgia PINES. Georgia PINES, which stands for Georgia Parent Infant Network for Educational Services, is a statewide home intervention program available to families of infants and toddlers with sensory impairment, 0-5 years of age. The administrative offices are housed at the Atlanta Area School for the Deaf in Clarkston, Georgia. Georgia PINES is funded through the Georgia Department of Education with partial funding from the Georgia Sensory Assistance Project. All services are free to families. In order for a family to be eligible for services from Georgia PINES, their child must have either a visual or hearing impairment, or both.

Georgia PINES became a replication site for SKI-HI and INSITE validated models that were developed at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, for identification and intervention for children with sensory loss through a home management program. The SKI-HI Model is used with families of children with hearing loss and the INSITE Model is used with families of children with multiple disabilities including vision and/or hearing loss. Both models are endorsed by the National Diffusion Network. The Georgia PINES-INSITE Program has been serving families of children with visual impairment, deafblindness, and sensory impairment including multiple disabilities in the state of Georgia since 1982. It was the first replication site for the INSITE Model developed by the National SKI-HI Institute at Utah State University. The Vision Impaired Inservice in America (VIISA) Model was added to Georgia PINES in 2001. VIISA is used with families of children with vision loss as their primary disability. Other supplemental curricula and resources may be used depending upon the needs of the child and family. These include the HELP activity guide, Reach Out and Teach, the Oregon Project and the Callier Azusa Scale among others. There is also a lending resource library of professional books, videos, toys, and adaptive equipment for use with our Georgia PINES families.

After seven days of intensive training, a parent advisor enters a contractual agreement with the Georgia PINES Program and is eligible to receive a referral for service to a family. Referrals come into the Georgia PINES office in a variety of ways: early intervention, doctors, therapists, families, parent advisors, and other agencies. The referral is then passed on to the parent advisor who then makes contact with the family and begins weekly home visits.

The parent advisor’s primary focus should be the family and their needs. During a home visit, the parent advisor provides technical assistance to the family through discussion of topics of need or interest expressed by the family, demonstration of appropriate activities and techniques to enhance the child’s development, particularly related to their sensory impairment, and sharing of other information and resources which would be of assistance to the family. A challenge is left for the family to work on during the week and is followed up on during the next home visit. Challenges and lessons are chosen based on the expressed needs of the family.

Georgia PINES works in collaboration with the Georgia Sensory Assistance Project, Babies Can’t Wait and other professionals providing services to the family. For more information, please contact Lynn McFarland at 1-800-522-8652 or 404-298-4881 in the Atlanta area, or by email at LmcFarla@doe.k12.ga.us.