Support to grow, develop, and build new skills for kiddos 0-3 and for their caregivers.

Early intervention is a field of practice that is directly tied to and regulated by the government. Part C of IDEA (individuals with disabilities education act) is the act that early intervention falls under. Each state operating under this nationwide act establishes a sector of state government that is responsible for overseeing EI. In each state this may vary slightly, it is common to see the Department of Education, Department of Health, Department for Individuals with Disabilities, etc. in charge of EI for the state. Under each of these sectors of state then fall approved "Early Intervention Brokers" formerly "Community Centered Boards". These brokers are individual organizations that have earned the state contract for EI services in certain counties. Depending on the size of the state and the counties covered, a broker may maintain one county or several. This broker is responsible for the coordination and administration of EI services to families that need them. In review, the broker agencies delivering services to families, report to the state agency responsible for EI, reporting to the overall government under part C of the IDEA act.

Family centered interventions that work to support the whole family in aiding the development, success, and growth of their child! Early intervention highly values the caregiver coaching model, teaching the family how to best support their child at all times, rather than receiving services and support only when the therapist is present. This results int he child receiving more support at all times.

Early intervention is a service provided specifically to infants and toddlers from birth until the day before their third birthday. In some special circumstances, often related to timing with preschool choice, services can be extended briefly to cover a service gap that would otherwise exist.

Early intervention follows something referred to as the funding hierarchy. When a family is established with early intervention services, the team working with them will go through a series of questions to establish how these services will be paid for. The first method is through primary or secondary insurance if available to the family. Many insurance companies have a small amount of money set aside to offset EI costs. If this is not an option, or if insurance does not have funds for EI, then the team moves down the funding hierarchy. The next level is looking to local resources such as local non-for profits and funds and local government. If these funds are exhausted then we continue down the hierarchy. The bottom tier of the hierarchy is federal funding. It is expected that families will never receive any bill for or be charged for Ei services, and that the funding hierarchy will be followed, to preserve local, state, and government funding when possible.

So many wonderful people make up the EI team and system including occupational therapists, speech therapists, physical therapists, developmental interventionists, sleep specialists, vision specialists, service coordinators, billing staff, and many many more! Take a look below to see some of the different roles in action.