Early Education for Children with Special Needs

The field of Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education (EI/ECSE), which includes services for young children with special needs from birth through age 5, is relatively new. As early as 1975, some states were providing services to preschoolers with disabilities; however, in many states, preschool services were not made available until Public Law 99-457 was passed in 1986. This law required that states provide a free and appropriate public education to children with disabilities age 3 through age 5. Public Law 99-457 also included incentives (e.g., grant money) for states to serve infants and toddlers with special needs. This federal law provides a general definition of which children, birth to age 5, are eligible for EI/ECSE services. Each state is then responsible for creating more specific guidelines to determine eligibility as well as designation of diagnostic instruments or procedures to be used in identifying children and families who will be served. For example, states may include, at their discretion, "at-risk infants and toddlers" in their definition of "infant and toddler with a disability." Children are considered at-risk of having a delay if early intervention is not provided when certain risk factors, such as poverty, are present. In general, the increase in early intervention over the past 20 years has been a result of research documenting the importance of early supports for children with disabilities and for their families, the increased societal commitment to young children, and the federal legislation mandating early childhood preschool services.

Early intervention professionals work with children and families who have a wide range of strengths and needs. This diversity requires that professionals have a sound knowledge of child development, a broad understanding of various disabilities and risk conditions, and an array of strategies for gathering new information when it is needed. Additionally, given the interdisciplinary nature of early intervention services, professionals need skills in working on teams and in working with families as partners in the design and provision of EI/ECSE services. Finally, EI/ECSE services are provided in a variety of settings (e.g., preschools, homes, hospitals, child care centers), and professionals must be skilled in working within these settings. It is important to remember that young children typically spend the majority of their time outside of the "formal" intervention time (e.g., they spend more time with family members or others than they do in a preschool classroom or in a parent-child play group); opportunities for learning occur whenever children interact with the people and materials in these varied environments. Thus, individuals across settings need to be knowledgeable of, and skilled in, implementing the interventions that have been designed for young children. For example, if a preschooler is learning to use sign language at preschool, then his parents, siblings, extended family members, and other child care providers also should learn to respond to these signs and to communicate with this child using signs in conjunction with verbalizations.

Children usually first enter the early intervention system because parents have concerns about their child's development, or because a referral has been made by a physician, family friend, or professional (e.g., the child's preschool teacher). Typically, the young child is assessed to determine if EI/ECSE services are warranted.

Assessment refers to the process of gathering information. Several specific purposes exist for assessing children. These purposes include screening their developmental abilities (e.g., cognitive, communication, and motor skills) to identify children who need further evaluation, determining whether children are eligible for specialized services (e.g., speech therapy), making diagnoses, planning intervention programs, and monitoring children's progress. Nondiscriminatory procedures should be followed in the assessment of young children, including:

1. Assessment procedures should be administered in the native language of the parents or other mode of communication (e.g., signs, augmentative communication system) unless it is clearly not feasible to do so.

2. Assessment and evaluation procedures and materials should not be racially or culturally discriminatory.

3. A single procedure should not be used as the sole criterion for determining a child's eligibility.

4. Qualified personnel should conduct assessments. Comprehensive assessments should include a combination of approaches for gathering information, including parent interviews, naturalistic observations, direct testing, and checklists.
Once a child is determined to be eligible for EI/ECSE services, the family and team of professionals design an intervention plan for the child. There is no single curriculum or intervention model that meets the needs of all children with special needs and their families, so an individualized approach to providing early intervention services is necessary. Goals that are important to the family and that will support the child's growth, development, and independent functioning are targeted and become the child's individual curriculum. Ongoing monitoring ensures that, if progress is not being made, changes in intervention programming can be implemented to facilitate development.

The early years are critical to a young child's physical, cognitive, social, communicative, and emotional development. Through the provision of EI/ECSE services, we can help young children with special needs develop to their fullest potential. Parents who have concerns about their children's development should call their local school district office to obtain the phone number for the EI/ECSE program in their community.

For more information on early intervention:

Internet Resources located at URL: http://clas.uiuc.edu/resource/links.html [Editor's note (9-12-00): this url has changed: http://clas.uiuc.edu/links.html]

Robertson, Anne S. (1997, July). Homevisiting: Bridging the gap between a family and the community. Parent News [Online], 3(7). Available: http://npin.org/pnews/pnew797/pnew797c.html [1997, September 3].

Sexton, David; Aldridge, Jerry; & Snyder, Patricia. (1994). Family-driven early intervention. Dimensions of Early Childhood, 22(2), 14-18.

Wright, Arlene, & Ireton, Harold. (1995). Child development days: new approach to screening for early iIntervention. Journal of Early Education, 19(12), 253-63.