What is Early Intervention and Who Benefits From it?

Why Intervene Early?

According to the US Department of Education there are three primary reasons....

Child development research has established that the rate of human learning and development is most rapid in the preschool years. Timing of intervention becomes particularly important when a child runs the risk of missing an opportunity to learn during a state of maximum readiness.

If the most teachable moments or stages of greatest readiness are not taken advantage of, a child may have difficulty learning a particular skill at a later time. Karnes and Lee (1978) have noted that "only through early identification and appropriate programming can children develop their potential" (p. 1).

Early intervention services also have a significant impact on the parents and siblings of an exceptional infant or young child. The family of a young exceptional child often feels disappointment, social isolation, added stress, frustration, and helplessness. The compounded stress of the presence of an exceptional child may affect the family's well-being and interfere with the child's development. Families of handicapped children are found to experience increased instances of divorce and suicide, and the handicapped child is more likely to be abused than is a non-handicapped child.

Early intervention can result in parents having improved attitudes about themselves and their child, improved information and skills for teaching their child, and more release time for leisure and employment. Parents of gifted preschoolers also need early services so that they may better provide the supportive and nourishing environment needed by the child.

A third reason for intervening early is that society will reap maximum benefits. The child's increased developmental and educational gains and decreased dependence upon social institutions, the family's increased ability to cope with the presence of an exceptional child, and perhaps the child's increased eligibility for employment, all provide economic as well as social benefits.

 

After nearly 50 years of research, there is evidence--both quantitative (data-based) and qualitative (reports of parents and teachers)--that early intervention increases the developmental and educational gains for the child, improves the functioning of the family, and reaps long-term benefits for society.

Early intervention has been shown to result in the child:

Disadvantaged and gifted preschool-aged children benefit from early intervention as well.

Longitudinal data on disadvantaged children who had participated in the Ypsilanti Perry Preschool Project showed that they had maintained significant gains at age 19 (Berrueta-Clement, Schweinhart, Barnett, Epstein, Weikart, 1984). These children were more committed to schooling and more of them finished high school and went on to postsecondary programs and employment than children who did not attend preschool.

They scored higher on reading, arithmetic, and language achievement tests at all grade levels; showed a 50% reduction in the need for special education services through the end of high school; and showed fewer antisocial or delinquent behaviors outside of school. Karnes (1983) asserts that under-achievement in the gifted child may be prevented by early identification and appropriate programming.

 

What Are the Critical Features of Successful Early Intervention Programs?

While there have been too few attempts to determine critical features of effective early intervention programs, there are a few factors which are present in most studies that report the greatest effectiveness.
These program features include:

·  The age of the child at the time of intervention

·  Parent involvement

·  The intensity and/or the amount of structure of the program model

 

Many studies and literature reviews report that the earlier the intervention, the more effective it is. With intervention at birth or soon after the diagnosis of a disability or high risk factors, the developmental gains are greater and the likelihood of developing problems is reduced (Cooper, 1981; Garland, Stone, Swanson, and Woodruff, 1981; Maisto and German, 1979; Strain, Young, and Horowitz, 1981).The involvement of parents in their child's treatment is also important. The data show that parents of both handicapped and gifted preschool-aged children need the support and skills necessary to cope with their child's special needs.

Outcomes of family intervention include:

Both of these factors appear to play an important role in the success of the program with the child (Beckman-Bell, 1981; Cooper, 1981; Garland and others, 1981; Karnes, 1983; Lovaas and Koegel, 1973; Shonkoff and Hauser-Cram, 1987). Certain "structural" features are also related to the effectiveness of early intervention, regardless of the curriculum model employed. Successful programs are reported to be more highly structured than less successful ones (Shonkoff and Hauser-Cram, 1987; Strain and Odom, in press).That is, maximum benefits are reported in programs that:

In addition to structure, the intensity of the services, particularly for severely disordered children, appears to affect outcomes. Individualizing instruction and services to meet child needs also is reported to increase effectiveness. This does not necessarily mean one-to-one instruction. Rather, group activities are structured to reflect the instructional needs of each child.

 

*Source: U.S. Department of Education