Do you want to enroll your child for an early intervention programme? Maybe you deem it as the missing link in transforming your child’s life for the better? Regardless of how you view it, you need to be sure it’s precisely what you need before deciding on anything. And this means taking it upon yourself to do your homework to find answers to some of your burning issues.
Early intervention refers to services and supports that can help young children with developmental delays. It’s quite similar to special education but it is eligible infants and toddlers who are behind at reaching developmental milestones.
With an early intervention programme, kids from birth to age 3 can get services at home or in the community. Keep in mind different types of specialists work with kids and their families based on which skills are developed. Early intervention focuses on physical skills, cognitive skills, communication skills, and self-help skills, to name a few.
So, who qualifies for an early intervention programme? Well, each state tends to have its own rules for which kids qualify. In most cases, kids must have a developmental or a specific health condition that’ll probably lead to a delay. This might include things like certain genetic disorders, birth defects, and hearing loss.
If your child qualifies for early intervention programme, then he/she can benefit from home visits, social work services, transportation, assistive technology, psychological services, and hearing or vision services.
There is no reason to worry about the timeline since early intervention programmes usually last until a child’s third birthday. When a child turns 3, the service coordinator holds a transition meeting to talk about moving from an early intervention programme to special education services under IDEA. These services can pick up where early intervention leaves off.
Always remember the first step to accessing early intervention services is to determine if he child is eligible. With parental permission, preliminary information is gathered by the early intervention programme, and evaluations are done to determine eligibility.
In the event that services are suggested by the early intervention specialists and accepted by the family, be sure to speak with both the family and the early intervention specialists about being part of the team. After all, early intervention specialists are trained to share knowledge and skills to support the child, family, and others working with the child.
