The Importance of Early Intervention Programs
June 7, 2023
- What is Early Intervention?
Early intervention is the process of providing services and support to infants and young children under six years of age who have, or are at risk of, developmental delays, disabilities, or health conditions that may affect optimal growth and learning. Early intervention includes delivering a comprehensive range of services to families and children with the goal of reducing the impact of a disability or developmental delay by addressing the specific needs of young children across five developmental domains: cognitive development, communication skills development, physical development including vision and hearing, social or emotional development, and adaptive development.
Beneficiaries of early intervention services may include infants and young children with disabilities or those with a diagnosed physical or mental condition likely to lead to developmental delays. This includes those with congenital or developmental conditions (for example: autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome, and hearing loss) and acquired conditions (for example: traumatic brain injury or other acquired brain injuries, post-surgical illnesses or complications, abuse or neglect, and hearing loss).
- Why Are These Programs Important?
The importance of early intervention stems from diagnosing the disability early and consequently delivering services early, which increases the likelihood that children will develop effective communication, language, and swallowing skills and achieve successful educational outcomes. The importance of early intervention also intersects with the timing of delivering these services, as rehabilitative and therapeutic services are provided at the same time the child is developing physically, linguistically, cognitively, emotionally, and educationally. Accordingly, the chances for children to improve are very high regardless of the severity of the disability.
One of the key distinguishing features of early intervention programs is that they are family-centered and focus on building the family's capacity to foster their child's development and learning (IDEA, 2004). Family-centered practices respond to each family's unique circumstances and provide families with complete information to make sound decisions (DEC, 2014). These programs focus on raising parents' awareness and developing their skills and sense of self-efficacy in interacting with their children, as children rely on their families to meet their needs and demands in the early years of life. Consequently, parents become confident in their abilities and skills to manage their children and assist them in a sound, scientific manner to develop and grow across all areas (motor, cognitive, perceptual, communicative, emotional, academic, and social).
The individual needs, learning styles, values, beliefs, and expectations of family members must also be considered (Raver & Childress, 2015; Tomasello, Manning, & Dulmus, 2010). Clinical practices emphasize that services providing opportunities for families and caregivers to participate directly in intervention are essential to strengthen existing knowledge and skills and to foster the development of new capacities that enhance child and family outcomes (DEC, 2014).
- What Are the Advantages of Early Intervention?
1. Early diagnosis of areas of delay and deficit in children and establishing the rehabilitative and therapeutic program very early.
Numerous scientific studies have proven that the degree of improvement and development relies primarily on the early diagnosis of the disability. Unfortunately, we still face very significant challenges in our Arab region in general regarding aspects of assessment and diagnosis. Therefore, the availability of early intervention programs will positively impact the development and resolution of assessment and diagnostic challenges.
2. Diversity of Expertise in Assessment and Diagnosis
These programs consist of a multidisciplinary team responsible for assessing and diagnosing children's problems and developing a treatment plan for each child in light of their abilities and needs across motor, cognitive, communicative, and other areas. Consequently, individual differences among children are identified and addressed by the team, and the required professionals to work with the child and their family are determined (Abu Zaid & Al-Najdi, 2004; Al-Hadidi, 2009). For example, if assessment results show that a child has no motor delay but has a language delay, a hearing impairment, behavioral challenges, and medical conditions, this does not require a physical therapist, but rather a speech-language pathologist, an audiologist, an applied behavior analysis specialist, and a pediatrician.
3. Enhancing Children's Participation in Their Natural Environment
By enhancing children's participation in their natural environments within daily family routines, experiences and interactions aligned with the child's age, cognitive communication skills, strengths, and interests are explored (DEC, 2014). Early intervention services are delivered in children's natural environments that are typical for infants and young children of the same age without disabilities, which may include the home, childcare, classroom, community, or elsewhere (IDEA, 2004).
4. Program Comprehensiveness
A hallmark of early intervention programs is that these services are comprehensive, coordinated, and multidisciplinary team-based. This leads to the integration and comprehensiveness of all services required by the child early and systematically, thereby enhancing the outcomes of early services for children and their families. The multidisciplinary team consists of physicians, speech-language pathologists, audiologists, physical and occupational therapists, behavior specialists, special education teachers, kindergarten teachers, school teachers, and parents. When multidisciplinary team members work as an integrated team, this will lead to enhancing collaboration, facilitating communication, avoiding duplication, sharing observations, discussing strategies, and collaborating to resolve challenges.
In addition to all the advantages mentioned above, early intervention programs yield significant long-term economic benefits, reducing the costs of special education services for children with special needs. These programs not only help minimize the impact of the disability and mitigate its consequences, but also reduce the need for long-term rehabilitative services, which will lower the proportion of children requiring special education programs of various types. This will alleviate substantial financial burdens and costs for both governments and parents alike.
- Summary
It is evident from the above that early intervention is of great importance and that the availability of early intervention programs is an urgent necessity, given the substantial benefits these programs offer to children, families, and all segments of society. It must be emphasized that the earlier the intervention, the better the outcomes; we reiterate here that addressing communication and language difficulties early prevents potential problems in behavior, learning, reading, and social interaction. Recent research on brain development confirms that earlier intervention is better when teaching young children. By age three, most major brain structures are mature, making it more difficult to achieve significant changes in child growth and development. Early intervention programs contribute to providing resources, support, and information to parents to enhance their children's communication skills. Furthermore, working with an early care provider increases parents' confidence that they are facilitating their child's communication development across all levels.
Based on the above, we hope that decision-makers will take the appropriate measures to provide early intervention programs urgently within sound scientific frameworks, drawing upon the experiences of developed countries that place great importance on early programs.
Dr. Yasser Noman Al-Saabi
Speech, Language, and Hearing Pathologist
References
- Abu Zaid, Hassan Muhammad Salem (2001). The Effectiveness of a Proposed Program in Reducing Aggressive Behavior among Preschool Children. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. Institute of Educational Studies and Research, Department of Psychological Counseling – Cairo University.
- Abu Zaid, Samira; Al-Najdi, Abdo (2004). The Role of the Family in the Inclusion of Children with Special Needs, The Second Scientific Conference on the Education of Children with Special Needs in the Arab World: Reality and Future, Vol. 2, Center for Child Care and Development, Mansoura University.
- Al-Hadidi, Muna (2009). Introduction to Visual Impairment. Amman - Jordan: Dar Al-Fikr for Printing and Publishing.
- Florida State University. (n.d.). Family guided routines based intervention. Retrieved from http://fgrbi.fsu.edu/index.html
- Florida State University. (2011). Embedding in family guided routines based intervention. Retrieved from http://fgrbi.fsu.edu/handouts/approach4/Tip%20SheetEmbedding.pdf
- Florida State University. (2012). 8 concepts from adult learning you can use to support caregivers. Retrieved from http://fgrbi.fsu.edu/handouts/approach1/EightConcepts.pdf
- Friedman, M., Woods, J., & Salisbury, C. (2012). Caregiver coaching strategies for early intervention providers: Moving toward operational definitions. Infants and Young Children, 25, 62–82.
- Guralnick, M. J. (2011). Why early intervention works: A systems perspective. Infants & Young Children, 24, 6–28.
- Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA). (2004). Retrieved from http://idea.ed.gov/.
- Raver, S. A. & Childress, D. C. (2015). Family-centered early intervention: Supporting infants and toddlers in natural environments. Baltimore, MD: Brookes.
Tomasello, N. M., Manning, A. R., & Dulmus, C. N. (2010). Family-centered early intervention for infants and toddlers with disabilities. Journal of Family Social Work, 13, 163–172.
Originally published in Arabic. This English version was produced with AI-assisted translation; the Arabic original remains the reference.
