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Pless, " Exploring changes over time in habilitation professionals' perceptions and applications of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, version for children and youth (ICF-CY) " study points to the need for ICF­CY­based assessment and intervention methods focusing on child participation. INTRODUCTION The lack of a common language of child functioning and disability is a significant challenge in Swedish interdisciplinary habilitation services offering interventions to children and youth with disability and their families (1). The publication of the World Health Organization (WHO)'s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, version for Children and Youth (ICF-CY) in 2007 provides a means to achieve shared communication between professionals about children's functioning and disability. The classification focuses on participation in everyday life situations and provides a broad definition of disability (2). Implementation of the ICF-CY into services for children and youth with disabilities can be seen as the introduction of an innovation into daily work requiring the use of a new set of terms, behaviours and routines (3, 4). In the introduction of such an innovation it is useful to pose questions such as: Do professionals perceive the ICF-CY as a useful tool to assess child functioning and disability? Furthermore , do their perceptions of its utility change over time? Finally, does in-service training on the ICF-CY have an impact on how professionals view child participation? Habilitation services Swedish habilitation teams are interdisciplinary and include up to 10 different professions. The goal of habilitation services is to provide interventions that enhance child functioning based on assessment of the child's participation in life situations (2). During assessment and intervention planning, it is important to consider a child's functioning in different contexts (5, 6). Families should be involved to identify target problems and factors with a potential for enhanced participation (6–8). Collaboration with families is essential, since children and parents may have different concerns from those of professionals and may want to focus on other outcomes (9–13). Several studies have indicated that professionals tend to restrict their focus to profession-specific areas and that families have had a passive role in the intervention process (10, 14). If all assessment findings and information from different sources, including families, were linked to a common framework, it could provide a more comprehensive view of children's functioning through " a common language ". 671 Changes over time when using the ICF-CY ICF-CY The ICF-CY provides a comprehensive view …