Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Early Intervention
Early Intervention
Structure
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Meaning of Early Intervention
7.3 Importance of Early Intervention
7.4 Service Delivery Models
7.4.1 Home-based Intervention
7.4.2 Centre-based Intervention
7.4.3 Eclectic Model
7.5 significance of Parent-Professional Partnership
7.6 Link with Early Childhood Education and School Readiness
7.7 Let Us Suin Up
7.1 INTRODUCTION
You would have observed the use of the term "Early Intervention" among
persons working for children with disabilities. Children with all types of
disabilities can be helped by this process. However, you may have wondered,
what exactly does early intervention mean? What does it involve? What is its
significance in the context of persons with disabilities? How early is "early"?
This Unit attempts to answer these questions.
In this Unit, we will talk about the meaning and importance of early
intervention, and the ways in which early intervention services may be provided.
become familiar with the service delivery models that exist in our country
for provision of early intervention services;
Further, many research studies have shown that when the child is young,
especially during the first two years of life, there is 'plasticity of the brain '.
Now what do we mean by brain plasticity? Well, as you probably know,
different parts of our brain perform specific fbnctions. Thus, if one part gets
damaged, the function it performed would get affected. However, early in
life, the brain is still plastic and adaptable. In other words, if stimulated early,
the brain cells adjacent to the damaged cells learn to take up the
responsibilities of the dead cells. However, when plasticity decreases; which
happens as the child grows older, other parts of the brain, even on stimulation,
are unable to take on the functions performed by the damaged part. Those
abilities may be lost forever. Training of the adjacent cells will not be possible.
This is a major reason for the emphasis on early intervention.
3) To help the parents and family members become the child's first and
best teachers.
Thus, while it is true that mental retardation is a condition which
cannot be cured, and the mentally retarded person's mental development
will remain slower than that of a normal person even as he grows
older, it is also true that timely and-appropriate intervention can help
the mentally retarded person to learn several skills. Training the child
will improve his performance level. And the earlier the training is
started, the better are the chances of improvement in the child.
(that is, training the child to differentiate sounds) can be carried out using
Early Intervention
cups and spoons, empty tins with stones or seeds in them, by tapping a stick
on various surfaces and by drawing the child's attention to common household
sounds such as water falling into a bucket, vegetables being fried, dishes
being washed etc. She watches them carry out the training activities to make
sure that they have learnt well and then informs them to carry out the activities
with the child everyday. She also teaches the parents how to monitor the
child's progress and accordingly proceed with the training activities.
The trainer makes periodic visits to the house-normally one to three times
L
a week, depending on mutual convenience, to provide the training and to
monitor progress. She also maintains a record, in simple form, of her..
assessment of the child, his progress, and the present activities being carried
out.
i) Each member of the expert team meets the parents and the child and
provides intervention.
ii) The team of experts, together, attend to the child and the family and
provide intervention.
iii) All experts meet and discuss the child's case, and one team member
receives information from all of them and in turn interacts with the child
and the family to transfer the skills of training.
Any of these three ways of functioning, or a combination, can be found at a
centre. The last arrangement can be applied for home-based training also,
where the home trainer goes to the child's house and provides the training
after consulting the experts and incorporating their input.
Each of the above ways of functioning of the expert team at the centre has Early Intervention
-
its own strengths and limitations. Depending on the centre and the resources
available, one or a combination of arrangements can be used.
In some places in India, where the centre is too far for the parents, family
cottage facilities are available. Here, the parents can stay with the child for
a period of time, say, one week, take the training and come back for a visit
every three months or so, for the next level of training. Some such centres
are KEM Hospital, Pune; NIMH, Secunderabad and Spastics Society of
Tamilnadu, Chennai. This helps in reaching out to parents in far off areas
without wasting precious early years of life. You can collect information
regarding various such centres froin PHCs and hospitals in your area.
If not properly planned, having too inany people to guide the parents may
, confuse them.
Fostering Development a It may be expensive in some centres.
in Early Years-Part-I
a All experts may not be available in all the centres.
--
~ r a d u a l lthe
~ , child with developmental delay should be prepared to attend
a preschool centre, as it is the first step for inclusion in school. Initially, the
teacher and other children may need to be oriented and sensitized so that the
child with mental retardation is accepted by them.
For the first few days, the parent may take the child to the centre for a short
period, stay with him and bring him back. Gradually, as toilet control is
achieved, he can be in the centre for a longer time without the parent staying
along. However, the parent may occasionally visit the centre, work with the
child, and help the teacher to carry out activities with the child. '
In the forthcoming Units, you will read about a number of activities that can
be carried out to foster the motor, personal-social, language and cognitive
development, as well as development of daily living skills, of the child with
mental retardation. As you would go through them, you would appreciate that
an activity often leads to learning a combination of skills. An activity of
Fostering Development threading beads, for example, can contribute to fine motor coordination,
i n Early Years- Part-1
learning cognitive skills and concepts of colour and number, as well as social
and language skills involved in waiting for one's tum and sharing the materials
'
to carry out the activity, or simply talking to each-other when playing. You
may use your creativity, and plan out a number of activities to facilitate the
overall development of the child. In the following Units, several examples of
activities have been given, that will give you an idea about how you may
facilitate the child's development in different areas.