Why is Early Intervention Important? 

Early Intervention (EI) is typically considered to be a program that provides intervention within the first few years of children’s lives. This may include different types of services including speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, social work, playgroups, and service coordinators. An EI program’s eligibility, the frequency or number of services that are provided, and the ages that can receive services varies state-by-state.  

In the most literal way, we can also think about EI just as intervention that is provided as early in the child’s life as possible. An example of early intervention for communication could involve targeting specific articulation errors as soon as they reach an age where they are expected to be able to independently produce the sound across contexts.  

Early intervention programs and providing intervention for developmental concerns from an early age, are extremely important. Here are a few reasons and examples of why we love to provide early intervention: 

• Change/form the desired connections faster! 

• One speech example is that the more we practice an inaccurate tongue placement to make “L”, the harder it will be to remediate because our muscles have been memorizing the wrong motor pathway to produce the sound. The stronger those incorrect pathways are, the harder it is to change them. 

• The earlier a child is exposed to engaging with others, held accountable for communicating their wants/needs, or learns about non-preferred foods, the faster these connections are likely to form.  
• If a child is evaluated, but does not qualify for services, you will have learned about their strengths, strategies to implement to encourage further development, and have a professional to discuss your child’s current level of function with. Win, win, win! 
• Waiting for a child to catch up on their own can be risky. 

• This is especially true if there is an underlying condition, diagnosis, or referral to be made. 

Seek out early intervention for the greatest chance of effective and successful services while empowering all members of the family! 

-Lauren