6A - Bethany Quetot – Response to Kristin DelMonaco.

1. What are the key concepts of Part C?

      The key concepts of Part C are: a deeper focus on the child’s family and community, greater care in the home and community, discovery of the needs of infants and toddlers, requires more family involvement, and ensures care in all settings (not just school).

2. Why is early intervention important for children with developmental delays?

DelMonaco shared this fact: “According to authors, Debra Zand and Katherine Pierce (2015), at the age of two years old around 13% of children are categorized as having a developmental delay in the United States.” We want to keep the number of disabilities as low as possible and that is why early intervention is so important. DelMonaco said that early intervention will minimize potential developmental delay, and reduce educational costs to our society by minimizing the need for special education services as children with disabilities become older.

3. What are some known challenges facing early education?

According to DelMonaco, some challenges facing early education are culture, politics, resources, commitment of community, and untrained professionals. DelMonaco said that society needs to become more educated about early intervention and students with special needs before change can occur.

4. What are some benefits of early intervention?

According to DelMonaco, the benefits of early intervention include positive effects on health, language, communication, cognitive development, social development, and emotional development.

According to The Autism Society, the cost of lifelong care in individuals with autism can be reduced by 2/3 with the use of early intervention. 

5. What are some of the services provided to the child and their family, based on the child’s need?

Some services provided to the family can be any of the following: nutritional services, occupational therapy, physical therapy, psychological services, speech, audiology services, vision services, assistive technology, social work services, developmental screenings, and other specialized services.

In her paper, DelMonaco gave the example of the program called Help Me Grow. Help Me Grow helps children and families succeed and finds ways to support them. Parents need help becoming educated on how to help their child with disabilities, and they need help finding the appropriate services. Help Me Grow is a great resource for families.