Early Intervention is one of the best prevention and intervention
programs around. Under Part C of the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004, families with
infants and toddlers who exhibit developmental delays or who are suspected of
having developmental delays can access these services free of charge to the
family! And these services are provided
in the child’s natural environment, which includes the home, day care or child care
settings, or even on a beautiful spring or summer day, in the local park.
Children normally and naturally develop as they grow
older. The care and attention of
parents, caregivers, siblings, and other family members allows the child to
develop skills and abilities as they mature.
This is a natural process, and the wonderful thing is that each set of
skills builds upon the previous set of skills. Children learn and develop in
the wonderful close relationships they experience in the home. Children listen to sounds around them, identify
the sounds that are words, and then practice making sounds, mimicking those
around him or her. Before you know it,
out comes “Ma!” or “Da!” It’s a wonderful process. Many other abilities develop in similar
fashion. The easier skills with muscles,
nerves, and brain interaction provide the foundation for later skills to
develop. One of the wonderful things we
do with children is to mark their developmental
milestones.
Sometimes,
for a variety of reasons, the natural developmental process is interrupted, and
we don’t see those abilities and behaviors coming forth as we might
expect. A child does not start speaking,
or crawling, or walking when we expect.
A child does not respond when we call her name. When these types of situations occur, it is
natural to look to the experts to see if there is some issue. Hopefully a parent has an excellent
relationship with a pediatrician to bring these concerns forward. A trusted relationship with the pediatrician
will do wonders for allaying unnecessary concerns, gaining valuable information
on developmental milestones, and accessing other resources should they be
helpful.
Fortunately for Massachusetts parents, most pediatricians and
nurses in the state who work with parents and infants know about Early
Intervention. They are aware that when an
infant or toddler exhibits certain physical or behavioral symptoms that might
indicate a delay, they can refer that child to the local Early Intervention
program. Then a team of skilled clinicians will be able to assess the level of
delay the child is experiencing, using a standardized instrument like the Batelle Developmental
Inventory. These clinicians are
trained to look for certain developmental milestones that children exhibit, and
to pinpoint areas where a child may not be reaching a milestone within a
certain timeframe.
The REACH Early Intervention Program has a
multi-disciplinary staff of Developmental Specialists, Physical Therapists,
Speech and Language Pathologists, Occupational Therapists, Registered Nurses,
and Social Workers who work together as a team.
Each team member knows their particular discipline quite thoroughly, and
through their work together over weeks, months, and often years, they have come
to understand how their expertise and focus interacts with other areas. For example, certain motor abilities need to
develop to allow other language abilities to emerge. These experts develop a transdisciplinary
approach to their work, so that parents can access information from any
team member that comes to their home to work with the child.
It is often helpful to see the child in other environments
as well, in order to understand how the child relates to other children, other people,
and how they master different environments from the home. This is another important service provided
through Early Intervention – seeing the child in the community.
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