1 in 6 children have a developmental disability. This means that roughly 17% of children experience difficulty with day to day activities involving communication, mobility, and sensory regulation. While every child’s journey is unique, early intervention can change each of their lives!
Infancy and early childhood mark critical periods of brain development. These early years lay the foundation for a child’s future cognitive, emotional, and social capacities. During this time, a child’s brain exhibits remarkable plasticity, allowing it to adapt and reorganize in response to experiences and stimuli. Every interaction, every word spoken, every game played, contributes to the intricate wiring of neural circuits. These early experiences not only foster cognitive development but also lay the groundwork for emotional regulation and social skills.
So what is Early Intervention?
Early Intervention is a range of services designed to identify and address developmental delays and disabilities in children, as early as possible. The earlier the intervention begins, the more neural connections are made in the child’s brain!
Early Intervention can include a variety of educational support, therapy, and resources to meet the child and their family’s needs. Here are some of the early intervention services provided at Little Light House.
- Speech-Language Therapy: diagnoses and treats communication and swallowing disorders, working to improve speech, language, voice, fluency, feeding, and social communication.
- Occupational Therapy: focuses on enabling independence in daily life activities such as self-care, mobility, memory and attention, sensory integration, and assistive technology.
- Physical Therapy: focuses on enhancing independence in mobility such as improving strength, balance, flexibility, coordination, and balance.
- Vision Therapy: treats vision disabilities and disorders by improving visual skills such as eye movement, coordination, focusing, and perception.
- Assistive Technology: use of tools and supports that help children gain independence and access the world around them, such as wheelchairs and walkers, hearing devices, prosthetics, speech-generating devices, screen readers, and more!
- Early Childhood Education: focuses on cognitive, social, emotional, and physical growth in young children through play-based learning experiences and nurturing interactions.
Early Intervention is crucial in identifying and addressing developmental delays and disabilities in children, maximizing their potential for development and growth.
Want to learn more about early intervention?
Enroll in our FREE online course “Who is the Child with Special Needs?”