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CHLD 139: �Early Intervention

LAURA DENISE HARRIS, ED.D.

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Objectives

Describe

Describe early intervention.

Discriminate

Discriminate between different types of intervention.

Summarize

Summarize the notion of special needs and special rights.

Explain

Explain why family capacity-building is a vital component of early intervention.

Identify

Identify the steps involved in the evaluation and assessment process, and apply this to your own practice.

Describe

Describe the characteristics and care of children with special rights related to physical, cognitive, emotional, and social development.

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What Is Early Intervention?

“…policies, services and programs, applied to vulnerable children and their families to promote a child’s healthy development and to reduce or prevent specific problems before they become intractable.”

          • Smith & Guralnick 2007

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IDEA, Part C (Overview) (7:21)�

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Part C of IDEA

  • Part C of IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act)
    • A system of services to help disabled children or those at risk of developmental delay
    • Covers birth to third birthday
    • Provides special education or specialized instruction for children over the age of 3 with an impairment, disability, or developmental delay

The Individuals with Disabilities Education �Act (IDEA), Part C: Early Intervention for �Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities

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The Story of Max (2:52)�

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Types and Tiers of Early Intervention�

Different types of intervention available

Audiology

Vision services

Assistive technology

Nursing

Speech

Physical therapy

Counseling

Depends on the nature of the difficulty experienced by the child and the level of severity

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Three Tiers of Early Intervention�

Universal

      • Routinely provided to all children to promote healthy development

Targeted

      • Specific families or communities experiencing greater levels of difficulty or stress and need additional support

Specialist or Specialized Interventions

      • Long-term
      • Provided to families with children who experience persistent challenges or families in crisis
      • Intensive therapeutic treatment
      • Families and children with acute, complex, or very high-level needs that be at great risk for poor outcomes

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From Special Needs to Special Rights

Special needs focuses on what children are not able to do; their limitations or what they need, oftentimes to the exclusion of their strengths and abilities.

Special rights is a strength-based model in which all children have rights, including disabled children who have special educational rights.

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Family-Capacity Building Need

“…in order to truly address the best interests of the children, they also have to address the best interests of their parents.”

Bi-generational services: Services provided to adults and children through the same services often at the same time

Programs that intervene early in the lives of families with infants and toddlers

01

02

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The Evaluation and Assessment Process: The Role of Teachers—Six Recommendations�

Monitor children closely

Monitor

Develop clear procedures to determine when and how to refer

Develop

Collaborate closely with community partnerships

Collaborate

Collaborate closely with health community to identify potential disabilities

Collaborate

Focus on early intervention strategies to prevent problems from becoming delays

Focus on

Provide support for families of children with disabilities

Provide

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Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP)�

Specific plan that outlines how professionals will provide services and assist the families in supporting the child’s growth, development, and learning.

Assessments and evaluations are provided at no cost to the parents.

Has 10 specific required elements that outline present level of performance, family information, who will provide services, when and how they will be provided, and name of service coordinator.

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Individual Family Service Plan (6:18)�

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Natural Environments

Part C of IDEA requires services to be provided

“…to the maximum extent appropriate to the

needs of the child” in the natural environment.

    • Promotes family-centered practices.
    • Natural environments for nondisabled child to the fullest extent possible

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Characteristics and Care of Children with Special Rights

Categories for physical and cognitive development

    • Children with motor difficulties
    • Biologically at-risk infants and toddlers
    • Children with vision impairments
    • Children with hearing impairments
    • Children who are medically fragile
    • Children with cognitive and general developmental disorders
    • Children with language and communication disorders

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Characteristics and Care of Children with Special Rights

Categories for social emotional development

    • Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
    • Children with Reactive Attachment Disorder
    • Children with mental health disorders
    • Children with multiple disabilities
    • Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

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Early Intervention and Building Collaborative Partnerships�

    • Family members, clinicians, and teachers must find a way to build a partnership.
    • Three aspects
      • Starting from strength-based perspective
      • Sharing expectations
      • Meeting emotional needs
    • Systems of practice must be put into place to ensure everyone’s needs are met within the partnership.
    • The study demonstrated the importance of each member of the intervention receiving support so that his or her needs are being met.

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