Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/child-care-and-early-intervention-partnerships/5024008/
We are in the midst of a shift. In the field of early intervention, the model is shifting from a center-based to home-based service delivery model, delivered in the child’s natural environment. Because many young children are in child care programs at an early age, their natural environment may, in fact, be the early childhood setting. Therefore it is critical that early childhood programs address each child’s unique needs so that children can grow, develop, and thrive in their environment.
What is Early Intervention and How Does it Work?
There are a number of different programs that provide early intervention services, such as Early Head Start, Help Me Grow, and County Developmental Disabilities Boards. Each program provides both developmental guidance and family support; you cannot address the child’s developmental needs without first supporting the family’s needs. Parents and caregivers must be able to follow through with the ideas and suggestions proposed by early intervention specialists; a solely therapeutic or medical approach—in which a child is taken to a separate room or location for therapy—will simply be ineffective.
When I was an early interventionist, I often recommended to families that if a specialist took their young child into a different ...