Early Intervention Definition,Importance and benefits

What is Early Intervention?

Early Intervention is a coordinated and comprehensive system of programs, services, and resources that are designed to meet the physical, intellectual, language, speech, social and emotional needs of children from birth to three years who have been identified as having a developmental delay or who are at risk for developing a delay.

The Early Intervention system of services is provided under Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This law encourages states to develop coordinated programs of Early Intervention services for children with disabilities from birth to age three years and to ensure that the children and their parents have the same legal right to a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) as children that do not have disabilities.

How can you, your child and your family benefit from Early Intervention services?

Early Intervention services provide families with the information and support they need to maximize their child’s overall development. Early Intervention services from qualified, experienced professionals can help you understand your child’s hearing loss. You will learn about your child’s strengths and needs and ways to help your child develop. You will discover that you and your family play an important role in your child’s development. You are your child’s teacher. You are the “expert” on your child. The choices you make will be yours and they will be made with confidence because they will be informed decisions.

You may have already been contacted about Early Intervention services. If you have not and you wish to know more about early intervention services in your area you may contact BEGINNINGS for more information and referral to a program.

Early Intervention Program for Children Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing:

The Early Intervention Program for Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing provides services to children who are deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf/blind, ages birth to three, and their families. Concentrating on language and communication skill development, itinerant professionals provide family-centered intervention in home and daycare settings. At age three, the program works to establish a smooth transition to the local education agency. 

Preschool for Visually Impaired Children

Early intervention services for children ages birth to five years with visual impairments are available through the Governor Morehead Preschool Program. This program, which is based in Raleigh but operates satellite programs in seventeen locations, provides itinerant services to children and their families in all 100 North Carolina counties. These services are provided by early interventionists trained to meet the unique needs of children who are visually impaired. The program is geared to prepare children to function successfully and independently in a wide variety of kindergarten placements. Intervention strategies focus on community-based experiences that incorporate a strong emphasis on developing pre-Braille, Braille, pre-Orientation and Mobility, and Orientation and Mobility skills, with instruction and intervention provided across all developmental domains. The goal of The Governor Morehead Preschool Program is to help children with visual impairments gain skills and self-confidence. Because it is critical to begin contact with these children as early in the process as possible, the Preschool Program serves visually impaired children from birth through age four. The Governor Morehead EIP services are community based. Teachers based in satellite locations across the state visit the children in their homes or in their community-based day care center. Services provided by the Early Intervention Program receive (as needed):  In-depth developmental evaluations designed for children with visual impairments Occupational and physical therapy Orientation and mobility training Low-vision, pre-Braille and Braille training Speech therapy Training and support for parents

The Importance of Early Intervention for Disadvantaged and/ or Vulnerable Children and Young People:

Early Intervention

Early intervention is essential to achieve the best possible outcome for the child. However multi-agency working is important too, when all the professionals involved with a child share information and co-operate with each other lives can be improved and even saved. Baby P is an example of multi-agencies not working together properly, early intervention and working together will help prevent more unnecessary deaths. Early years practitioners can provide information for local services which may be helpful to disadvantaged or vulnerable families, we can work together with social workers, health professionals and even DHSS by helping to complete forms for additional benefits the family may be entitled to. The best interest of the child is always the priority, policies and guidance must also be followed when a referral is being made to an outside agency. Working together for the benefit of the child. Early intervention is also at the heart of the Governments national strategy on child poverty. They hope to provide support and de-stigmatise services, provide more health visitors for Sure Start Children’s Centres and are providing an Early Intervention Grant for local authorities to invest in addressing their local needs. The impact of all these measures for early intervention, will hopefully be a more stable society with less children in workless homes. Parents will be able to work and support their children, providing better homes, healthier food and a stable home life. Children will appreciate their education and strive to achieve their full potential. They will be safer, healthier and hopefully happier. They will have access to facilities to improve their health and well-being as well as their physical, social & emotional development. Services will be in place to provide support to families in need, helping families stay together and become more stable. By 2020 our society will have changed for the better if the Governments strategy...

Why Intervene Early?

There are three primary reasons for intervening early with an exceptional child: to enhance the child's development, to provide support and assistance to the family, and to maximize the child's and family's benefit to society.

Child development research has established that the rate of human learning and development is most rapid in the preschool years. Timing of intervention becomes particularly important when a child runs the risk of missing an opportunity to learn during a state of maximum readiness. If the most teachable moments or stages of greatest readiness are not taken advantage of, a child may have difficulty learning a particular skill at a later time. Karnes and Lee (1978) have noted that "only through early identification and appropriate programming can children develop their potential" (p. 1).

Early intervention services also have a significant impact on the parents and siblings of an exceptional infant or young child. The family of a young exceptional child often feels disappointment, social isolation, added stress, frustration, and helplessness. The compounded stress of the presence of an exceptional child may affect the family's well-being and interfere with the child's development. Families of handicapped children are found to experience increased instances of divorce and suicide, and the handicapped child is more likely to be abused than is a nonhandicapped child. Early intervention can result in parents having improved attitudes about themselves and their child, improved information and skills for teaching their child, and more release time for leisure and employment. Parents of gifted preschoolers also need early services so that they may better provide the supportive and nourishing environment needed by the child.

A third reason for intervening early is that society will reap maximum benefits. The child's increased developmental and educational gains and decreased dependence upon social institutions, the family's increased ability to cope with the presence of an exceptional child, and perhaps the child's increased eligibility for employment, all provide economic as well as social benefits.

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Is Early Intervention Really Effective?

After nearly 50 years of research, there is evidence--both quantitative (data-based) and qualitative (reports of parents and teachers)--that early intervention increases the developmental and educational gains for the child, improves the functioning of the family, and reaps long-term benefits for society. Early intervention has been shown to result in the child: (a) needing fewer special education and other habilitative services later in life; (b) being retained in grade less often; and (c) in some cases being indistinguishable from nonhandicapped classmates years after intervention.

Disadvantaged and gifted preschool-aged children benefit from early intervention as well. Longitudinal data on disadvantaged children who had participated in the Ypsilanti Perry Preschool Project showed that they had maintained significant gains at age 19 (Berrueta-Clement, Schweinhart, Barnett, Epstein, Weikart, 1984). These children were more committed to schooling and more of them finished high school and went on to postsecondary programs and employment than children who did not attend preschool. They scored higher on reading, arithmetic, and language achievement tests at all grade levels; showed a 50% reduction in the need for special education services through the end of high school; and showed fewer anti-social or delinquent behaviors outside of school. Karnes (1983) asserts that underachievement in the gifted child may be prevented by early identification and appropriate programming.

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Is Early Intervention Cost Effective?

The available data emphasize the long-term cost effectiveness of early intervention. The highly specialized, comprehensive services necessary to produce the desired developmental gains are often, on a short-term basis, more costly than traditional school-aged service delivery models. However, there are significant examples of long-term cost savings that result from such early intervention programs.

• A longitudinal study of children who had participated in the Perry Preschool Project (Schweinhart and Weikart, 1980) found that when schools invest about $3,000 for 1 year of preschool education for a child, they immediately begin to recover their investment through savings in special education services. Benefits included $668 from the mother's released time while the child attended preschool; $3,353 saved by the public schools because children with preschool education had fewer years in grades; and $10,798 n projected lifetime earnings for the child.
• Wood (1981) calculated the total cumulative costs to age 18 of special education services to child beginning intervention at: (a) birth ; (b) age 2; (c) age 6; and (d) at age 6 with no eventual movement to regular education. She found that the total costs were actually less if begun at birth! Total cost of special services begun at birth was $37,273 and total cost if begun at age 6 was between $46,816 and $53,340. The cost is less when intervention is earlier because of the remediation and prevention of developmental problems which would have required special services later in life.
• A 3-year follow-up in Tennessee showed that for every dollar spent on early treatment, $7.00 in savings were realized within 36 months. This savings resulted from deferral or special class placement and institutionalization of severe behavior disordered children (Snider, Sullivan, and Manning, 1974).
• A recent evaluation of Colorado's state-wide early intervention services reports a cost savings of $4.00 for every dollar spent within a 3-year period (McNulty, Smith, and Soper, 1983).

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Are There Critical Features To Include In Early Intervention?

While there have been too few attempts to determine critical features of effective early intervention programs, there are a few factors which are present in most studies that report the greatest effectiveness. These program features include: (a) the age of the child at the time of intervention; (b) parent involvement ; and (c) the intensity and/or the amount of structure of the program model.

• Many studies and literature reviews report that the earlier the intervention, the more effective it is. With intervention at birth or soon after the diagnosis of a disability or high risk factors, the developmental gains are greater and the likelihood of developing problems is reduced (Cooper, 1981; Garland, Stone, Swanson, and Woodruff, 1981 ; Maisto and German, 1979; Strain, Young, and Horowitz, 1981).
• The involvement of parents in their child's treatment is also important. The data show that parents of both handicapped and gifted preschool-aged children need the support and skills necessary to cope with their child's special needs. Outcomes of family intervention include: (a) the parent's ability to implement the child's program at home; and (b) reduced stress that facilitates the health of the family. Both of these factors appear to play an important role in the success of the program with the child (Beckman-Bell, 1981; Cooper, 1981; Garland and others, 1981; Karnes, 1983; Lovaas and Koegel, 1973; Shonkoff and Hauser-Cram, 1987).
• Certain "structural" features are also related to the effectiveness of early intervention, regardless of the curriculum model employed. Successful programs are reported to be more highly structured than less successful ones (Shonkoff and Hauser-Cram, 1987; Strain and Odom, in press). That is, maximum benefits are reported in programs that: (a) clearly specify and frequently monitor child and family behavior objectives; (b) precisely identify teacher behaviors and activities that are to be used in each lesson; (c) utilize task analysis procedures; and (d) regularly use child assessment and progress data to modify instruction. In addition to structure, the intensity of the services, particularly for severely disordered children, appears to affect outcomes. Individualizing instruction and services to meet child needs also is reported to increase effectiveness. This does not necessarily mean one-to-one instruction. Rather, group activities are structured to reflect the instructional needs of each child.

Benefits of Early Intervention

It is important to always know that as parents, you are entitled to select the communication approaches you want to use with your child so he or she can develop language. The decision making process and the implementation of the chosen approach is known as early intervention. The emphasis of early intervention is on helping families become educated and comfortable as the child’s primary teachers of language. The family unit, not only the child with the hearing loss, is emphasized in early intervention.

One critical benefit of early intervention is that it allows the family to gather as much information as possible to make the best decision for their child’s language and communication approach. Once a child is diagnosed with a hearing loss, it is important to speak with trained professionals such as audiologists, speech-language pathologists, educators of the deaf and/or otolaryngologists (ear, nose and throat specialists) to understand the cause(s), as well as treatment options and approaches that are available and appropriate.

Early intervention is also important because the first few months of a child’s life are vital to the development of language and communication skills. Typically, at the 24th week of pregnancy the inner ear is fully developed and the child is able to hear some sounds. Within the first few months following birth, the child begins to distinguish various sounds such as human speech, and by age 2, the foundations for language (hearing and speaking) are developed. For a child with a hearing loss, delayed identification and intervention can adversely impact his or her language and cognitive development. Infants and young children whose hearing loss is detected early and who receive appropriate and timely intervention have an excellent chance to develop these skills alongside their typical hearing peers.

Within the first few months of your child’s diagnosis, you will discover there is a wide range of resources available to you. Your local school district or early intervention provider is a vital resource and can work with you to develop an Individual Family Service Plan, or IFSP, which serves as a road map for addressing your child’s hearing loss and intervention approach. Parent-infant programs offer a number of services, including consultation on acquiring hearing aids and assistive listening devices, parent counseling, explanation of the various communication options for children with hearing loss, and training in the communication approach selected on the advice of professionals and family preference.

When a child turns 3, he or she is ready for transition to a pre-school program if the family chooses. Times of significant transition can be challenging both for you and your child, particularly for a child with hearing loss. Preparation in the form of visiting the program, working with your current IFSP team to prepare for the transition, and having a clear idea of what you are looking for in an appropriate educational setting will help smooth this passage for you and your child. Learn more about Education Advocacy Training with this online course which provides an overview of the legal framework for special education law and your child’s educational rights.