Early Intervention and Resources to Learn more about Children's Development

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By: Carrie Portrie, M.Ed, EC-SEAT Project Coordinator and PhD Student in Education

While perusing my Facebook feed this afternoon, I saw a post from Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families on 2015 Baby Facts by State and Toolkit. As I jumped to the site, I began thinking about all the wonderful resources for families caring for and professionals working with infants and toddlers.

Learning about and observing children's development early on is joyous and is also important for detection of potential concerns. When a potential concern, developmental delay or disability is detected families can access early intervention for their child. What is early intervention? The Center for Parent Information and Resources (2014) overview explains it is "Authorized by law. Early intervention is available in every state and territory of the United States. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires it–Part C of IDEA, to be precise. That’s why you’ll sometimes hear early intervention referred to as Part C."

And the Center for Parent Information and Resources (2014) also writes:
"Early intervention is a system of services that helps babies and toddlers with developmental delays or disabilities. Early intervention focuses on helping eligible babies and toddlers learn the basic and brand-new skills that typically develop during the first three years of life, such as:
    • physical (reaching, rolling, crawling, and walking);
    • cognitive (thinking, learning, solving problems);
    • communication (talking, listening, understanding);
    • social/emotional (playing, feeling secure and happy); and
    • self-help (eating, dressing)," 
Professionals can take active roles in understanding their roles in early screening, intervention and special education. Dr. Leslie J. Couse, EC-SEAT's Project Director recently alerted me to two new position statements on The Role Special Instruction in Early Intervention (2014) and Leadership in Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education (2015) from the Council for Exceptional Children's (CEC) Division for Early Childhood (DEC). The 2014 DEC position statement Role of Special Instruction in Early Intervention describes early intervention as services focused:
"on active caregiver-professional partnership that are grounded in family-centered practices and guided by family priorities and outcomes written into each child's Individualized Service Plan (IFSP; Part C, IDEA, 2004, Sec. 303.18)."  
Partnership, discovery and care are among some of the most important parts of early intervention and supporting children's earliest stages of growth no matter developmental pace. Learn and read more about early development, screening and early intervention below and by clicking the links throughout this brief post. Please share in the comments your thoughts and additional resources! Happy reading and learning!

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