Successful Early Intervention

What is "Early Intervention" and who benefits from it?
Why intervene early?
Is Early Intervention effective?

What Are the Critical Features of Successful Early Intervention Programs?

While there have been too few attempts to determine critical features of effective early intervention programs, there are a few factors which are present in most studies that report the greatest effectiveness.
These program features include:

The age of the child at the time of intervention

Parent involvement

The intensity and/or the amount of structure of the program model

Many studies and literature reviews report that the earlier the intervention, the more effective it is. With intervention at birth or soon after the diagnosis of a disability or high risk factors, the developmental gains are greater and the likelihood of developing problems is reduced (Cooper, 1981; Garland, Stone, Swanson, and Woodruff, 1981; Maisto and German, 1979; Strain, Young, and Horowitz, 1981).The involvement of parents in their child's treatment is also important. The data show that parents of both handicapped and gifted preschool-aged children need the support and skills necessary to cope with their child's special needs.

Outcomes of family intervention include:

The parent's ability to implement the child's program at home
Reduced stress that facilitates the health of the family

Both of these factors appear to play an important role in the success of the program with the child (Beckman-Bell, 1981; Cooper, 1981; Garland and others, 1981; Karnes, 1983; Lovaas and Koegel, 1973; Shonkoff and Hauser-Cram, 1987). Certain "structural" features are also related to the effectiveness of early intervention, regardless of the curriculum model employed. Successful programs are reported to be more highly structured than less successful ones (Shonkoff and Hauser-Cram, 1987; Strain and Odom, in press).That is, maximum benefits are reported in programs that:

Clearly specify and frequently monitor child and family behavior objectives
Precisely identify teacher behaviors and activities that are to be used in each lesson
Utilize task analysis procedures
Regularly use child assessment and progress data to modify instruction

In addition to structure, the intensity of the services, particularly for severely disordered children, appears to affect outcomes. Individualizing instruction and services to meet child needs also is reported to increase effectiveness. This does not necessarily mean one-to-one instruction. Rather, group activities are structured to reflect the instructional needs of each child.

*Source: U.S. Department of Education