Early Childhood Intervention

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Early Childhood Intervention is a support system for children with developmental delays and/or disabilities and their families.

If a child experiences a developmental delay, this can compound over time. The principle of early intervention is to provide appropriate therapies for children with disabilities, to minimize these delays and maximize their chances of reaching normal milestones in development.

Early intervention begins from birth or first diagnosis, and continues until age 3. It involves specialised education and therapy services for the child, as well as support for the whole family through information, advocacy, and emotional support.

1 History
2 Definition
3 How is Early Childhood Intervention provided?
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

Early Childhood Intervention came about as a natural progression from Special Education for children with disabilities. Research during the sixties and seventies showed that the earlier children received Special Education, the better their outcomes; it also showed that families who were supported earlier were more empowered to advocate for their child later on (Guralnik, 1997). Many Early Childhood Intervention support services began as research units in universities (e.g. Syracuse University, USA; Macquarie University, Australia) while others were developed out of organisations helping older children.

In the past it has been simply called “early intervention”, however this term is also used in other fields such as mental health, referring to adolescents, and from the nineties most organisations outside the U.S. changed the term to “Early Childhood Intervention” to reflect the age-group. In the U.S., however, "early intervention" is used. In some instances, it is used to refer only to services for children birth to age 3 (Spiker, Hebbeler, Wagner, Cameto, & McKenna, 2000), but in other instances it is used to refer to a wider range of early childhood. The Journal of Early Intervention, for example, covers birth to age 8.

[edit] Definition

“Early Intervention is best conceptualized as a system designed to support family patterns of interaction that best promote children’s development” (Michael Guralnick, 1997).

Early Childhood Intervention has several goals. Firstly, it is provided to support families to support their children’s development. Secondly, it is to promote children’s development in key domains such as communication or mobility. Thirdly, it is to promote children’s coping confidence, and finally it is to prevent the emergence of future problems. (Sheila Wolfendale, 1997).

[edit] How is Early Childhood Intervention provided?

“These services are to be provided in the child’s natural setting, preferably at a local level, with a family-oriented and multi-dimensional team approach” (European Agency for Development in Special Needs). Robin McWilliam (2003) ^[1] has developed a model that emphasizes five components: understanding the family ecology through ecomaps; functional needs assessment through a Routines-Based Interview; transdisciplinary service delivery through the use of a primary service provider; support-based home visits through the Vanderbilt Home Visit Script; and collaborative consultation to child care through individualized intervention within routines.

Early Childhood Intervention may be provided within a centre-based program (such as Headstart in the USA), a home-based program (such as Portage in the UK), or a mixed program (such as Lifestart in Australia). Some programs are funded entirely by the government, while others are charitable or fee-paying, or a combination of these.

An Early Childhood Intervention team generally consists of Teachers with Special Education training, Speech and Language pathologists, Physiotherapists, Occupational therapists, and other support staff such as music therapists, teacher aides, and counsellors. A key feature of Early Childhood Intervention is the “transdisciplinary model”, where staff members discuss and work on goals even when they are outside their discipline.

“In a transdisciplinary team the roles are not fixed. Decisions are made by professionals collaborating at a primary level. The boundaries between disciplines are deliberately blurred to employ a “targeted eclectic flexibility” (Pagliano, 1999).

Goals are chosen by the families through the annual or biannual IFSP (Individual Family Service Plan), which evolves from a meeting where families and staff members talk together about current concerns, as well as celebrating achievements.

[edit] References

European Agency for Development in Special Needs. Early Childhood Intervention: Analysis of Situations in Europe, 2005

Guralnick, Michael. The Effectiveness of Early Intervention. Baltimore: P.H. Brookes, 1997

Pagliano, P.J. Multisensory Environment. David Fulton Publishers, London, 1999.

Spiker, D., Hebbeler, K., Wagner, M., Cameto, R., & McKenna, P. (2000). A framework for describing variations in state early intervention systems. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 20, 195-207.

Wolfendale, Sheila. Meeting Special Needs in the Early Years: Directions in Policy and Practice. London: David Fulton Publishers, 1997.