The term Early Intervention refers to services given to very young children with special needs, generally from birth until the child turns three. For this reason, these programs are sometimes called "Birth to 3" or "Zero to 3." Services included speech therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy, provided either in an office or in the child's home. The hope is that these services, provided early, will address any delays in development so that the child will not need services later on. At age 3, if a child still needs help, he or she might be referred to the school district for special-education preschool. Your pediatrician should be able to refer you to early intervention providers in your area, or find your state on the NECTAC site and contact the office directly.

 

 

Early identification of problems may include an evaluation and treatment provided to families and their children younger than age 3 who have, or are at risk of having, a delay in speech, language or hearing. Delays may also be noted in social/emotional, cognition or fine and gross motor skills.

 

As a parent, it's important to listen to your own instincts and to seek help if you have a concern, even if your child’s doctor says the child will "grow out of it" or says that "some children simply talk later."  That may simply not be the case.

 

It is not considered "best practice" for a child to "grow into" their skills or to wait until the child is 3 years or older.  It's very important to get evaluations and interventions in place for them as soon as possible. The common belief is that a child is never too young to benefit from supports if there’s a problem. Best practice encourages parents to seek evaluations and interventions sooner rather than later.  The common belief is that if you take care of it now, the easier things will be for the child as they grow older.

 

 

Evaluations may include a number of tests, observation of the child at play and a collection of speech samples, if the child talks. Several sessions may be needed to obtain enough information to make a diagnosis by professionals such as speech-language pathologists, audiologists, psychologists and occupational or physical therapists.

 

 

ASHA recommends children identified as at-risk or high risk, such as those from neonatal intensive care units, should be tested early and regularly.

 

Other risk factors include children who have had chronic ear infections, or who have been diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, genetic defects such as Down syndrome, neurological defects such as cerebral palsy or developmental disorders.

 

With toddlers, an important first thing to look at is if they are hearing well.  Questions to ask yourself may be: "Are they startling to sounds?" "Are they looking toward sounds?" "Are they hearing your voice?" Are there a lot of ear infections?"  Frequent ear infections can actually make your child hear like he is under water. It does and can affect speech development and sound productions.

 

ASHA recommends that children with no high-risk factors should be evaluated if their speech and language is not similar to other children of the same age.

 

 

It depends on the diagnosis. Remediation efforts, however, increase function in areas identified as delayed or disabling and may prevent other related problems. For instance, the remediation of a language disorder can help offset learning difficulties.

 

Most often, treatment takes place in a natural setting and is presented at the child’s developmental level. Play may be used to teach communication, language models or rules of conversation, such as turn taking.

 

 

ASHA recommends that parents concerned about a possible speech-language delay or disability consult a speech-language pathologist.

The organization also recommends that parents ask the following questions when seeking treatment:

 

 

 

 

As parents, it is important to continually talk to your infants and toddlers in a simple manner.  Use 2-3 words as the most and label everything. Pointing out planes and cars as they pass by, or talking to your child as you prepare to cook in the kitchen, such as saying, "Mommy’s getting an egg out of the refrigerator," as you do so.

 

Always talk about what you are doing, and the sounds that you hear.

Sometimes older siblings of toddlers will often speak for the younger child. Parents should discourage this and try to get the information the toddler is trying to communicate from him directly.

 

It'salso important that parents use verbal communication at all times to "talk" with their toddlers. For example, if your toddler walks up to you and hands you a cup without saying anything, you should ask what your child wants, not assuming that they want more milk.  If they say ‘more,’ say, ‘Tell Mommy more milk.'  Constantly add on to what your child is already saying.

 

Some also recommend that correcting a child’s pronunciation is helpful early on.  For example,  if your child says they want a "tookie," then say, "Oh, you want a COOKIE," carefully enunciating the word "cookie."

 

More helpful suggestions can be found in the resources for parents area of this website.