Last Updated (Monday, 01 March 2010 15:01)

Early Intervention

What is early intervention?

• Early intervention is professional assistance given to parents, carers and their young children. Therapists help our children learn through play.
• Therapists almost always work as part of a team. Different therapists have different specialist areas. Together they cover all aspects of our children’s development.
• Often therapists offer assessment and advice, and suggest home programmes for parents or caregivers to carry out with the child.

How do I get early intervention ?

A member of your health-care team can refer you to your local early intervention services. You may be seen in your home or in a centre.

Who is in an early intervention team?

Our babies often see

• visiting neuro-developmental therapist -VNT
• speech-language therapist –SLT
• early intervention teacher

The team may also include paediatricians, health-care nurses, support services, dieticians, play therapists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, social workers and music therapists.

What do visiting neuro-developmental therapists do?

work with muscles and movement, children’s growth, development, and everyday living.
teach parents and carers skills and exercises to assist learning and development.

What do speech-language therapists do?

• assist with any feeding problems.
• help with early communication through play.
• can teach us about the use of signing as our children find it easier to learn to talk if main words are signed.

What do early intervention teachers do ?

• provide advice about building onto children’s strengths to ensure they reach their potential as they learn and develop.
• support parents and family in the home and early childhood centre.
• support teachers to fully include our children into the early childhood setting.
• help plan children’s transition to school.