Does Your Child Need Early Intervention?
mobility to crawl and walk. Physical therapy also helps address kids' needs for any adaptive devices such as walkers and wheelchairs.
Early Childhood Special Education
Early childhood educators help provide developmentally appropriate learning environments and activities to promote cognitive and social skills, such as singing finger-play songs and asking for more bubbles to pop.
Social Work Services
Social work services assess the social and emotional needs of a child and his family and provide help with counseling or parent training.
How Do I Get Early Intervention?
All kids with developmental delays who live in the U.S. are entitled to free
early intervention services through age 3 and free special education from
age 3 through 21, thanks to the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. The first step is to get an evaluation through your state’s education department. To schedule an appointment, ask your child’s doctor for a referral or Google “early intervention” and your state for contact info.
Eligible families will then get a personalized plan—called an Individualized Family Service Plan for infants and toddlers and an Individualized Education Program for preschoolers. These explain which services would be helpful for the child and how to sign up for them. EI therapists can come to your home or even to your child’s daycare or preschool, where they’ll work with the teachers to find an appropriate place and time for the sessions.
Every state has its own guidelines, but children with issues such as cognitive disabilities, vision or hearing problems, gross motor delays, feeding problems, speech delays, and more may all be eligible for services.
