Early Intervention
In this section of the website you will find information on early intervention services for children with intellectual disabilities, links to best practices, publications and reports, and other useful links.
What is early intervention?
"Early intervention" is a term that describes a wide range of multi-disciplinary services offered to children with developmental disabilities between birth and school age in order to:
- Prevent the development of disabilities;
- Diminish the long-term effects of disability and to assist children with disabilities in key areas such as physical, cognitive, linguistic, social and emotional development;
- Support families in maximizing their children's development and in fostering the development of their children's independent living skills to promote social inclusion; and
- Facilitate inclusion in mainstream education for children with developmental disabilities.
Key principles
Multi-disciplinary: Early intervention programs incorporate a broad range of professional services that address the full spectrum of issues associated with developmental disabilities to ensure that the development of each child is maximized.
Accessibility: Early intervention services should be widely accessible and available to all children and families who need them.
Inclusiveness: Early intervention programs maximize the social inclusion of children with developmental disabilities. To the extent possible, they operate in inclusive environments which encourage the maximum use of existing social networks and natural supports.
Client involvement: Families should be involved in choosing and designing early intervention services that best address their needs. Families should be fully informed of their options, and they should be directly involved in designing individually tailored services for their child.
Flexibility: Early intervention services should be tailored to the individual needs of the child rather than requiring the child and the family to fit existing services.
Family-centered orientation: To ensure their long-term effectiveness, early intervention services should address the needs of the entire family, not only those of the child.
Comprehensiveness: Early intervention services approach clients holistically, addressing the whole range of issues relevant to each child and family. Early intervention programs should seek to integrate their services with other community-based supports.
Early Intervention in Practice
Types of early intervention services:
Effective early intervention programs provide the delivery of a broad range of services in a variety of settings to ensure comprehensiveness, sustainability and long-term impact.
1. Hospital-based services: Services delivered in hospitals typically include diagnostic and direct medical interventions in neonatal wards, particularly for premature infants or infants with birth complications that put them at risk for developmental delays. Initial counseling and referral services are sometimes offered in addition to medical services. Some pediatric hospitals offer a broader range of services that include occupational therapy and early education activities, but these hospital-based services are generally provided only for the short term and should be supplemented by longer-term interventions in the home or in a specialized early intervention center.
2. Home-based services: Early intervention programs delivered in the home typically focus on parents as educators or therapists and equip them with the tools to maximize the development of their children. While screening and referral for therapy outside the home may also be provided, home-based services primarily seek to build a family environment that responds to the needs of the child and addresses the needs of the entire family. The home-based model has the advantage of keeping the child in a familiar, secure environment, but it does not alleviate the isolation experienced by children with disabilities who are cared for primarily in the home and therefore should be complemented with other community-based services.
3. Center-based services: Early intervention centers can deliver a wide variety of therapies and services while giving children with disabilities the chance to interact with others. Center-based programs are usually more intensive than home-based services and have been shown to be more cost-effective in the long run. Early intervention centers also function as transitional environments for children preparing to enter the educational system.
The range of services offered by early intervention programs:
1. Diagnostic and assessment services: Early screening and identification of children with developmental disabilities or who are at risk of developing disabilities; working with maternity hospitals and premature infant care wards to reach newborns and families at risk; and cooperating with health care providers, day care centers and pre-schools to provide diagnostic and assessment services to children with disabilities.
2. Medical assistance: Providing direct medical interventions to prevent disability or to remedy the effects of disability.
3. Developmental therapy: Providing therapies that address the cognitive and intellectual development of children with diagnosed developmental disabilities including speech and language therapies, sensory stimulation and psychomotor patterning.
4. Physical therapy: Addressing posture disorders and assisting the development of gross and fine motor skills through kinetic therapy, exercise programs, stimulation, massage and adaptive play.
5. Psychological services: Providing psychological counseling with the aim of optimizing the parent-child interaction and the emotional development of the child.
6. Occupational therapy: Maximizing the child's development and addressing needs for independent living and social interaction skills through play and educational activities.
7. Education-related services: Facilitating school inclusion of children with developmental disabilities by mediating between mainstream schools, special educational resources and disability organizations; and providing specialized assistance throughout the transition and inclusion process in mainstream schools.
8. Support and information services for families: Providing family and individual counseling and education, support groups and parenting classes.
9. Case management: Integrating early intervention with other types of services by facilitating access to medical and other therapeutic services and by coordinating with day and respite care providers and schools.
10. Information and referral: Linking children with disabilities and their families to other resources and supports in the community; and facilitating access to benefits or other services, such as the acquisition of assistive technology devices and access to transportation.
11. Awareness-raising and advocacy: Raising awareness of the needs of people with disabilities among the general population; advocating for the social inclusion and mainstreaming of children with disabilities in the educational system and beyond; modeling good practices in early intervention and pressing for the development of widely accessible national early intervention networks; and identifying gaps in services and advocating for the development of new resources to meet needs.