6A Kristin DelMonaco-Response to Bethany Queot

Bethany, your paper was well written. Everything was clearly thought out and was informative. I had written my paper on early intervention as well and it was interesting to see how we wrote them differently.

1.     What is early intervention?

Early intervention is a program that was created to help children with disabilities. The purpose is to provide assistance to the child and their family, in order to enhance the child’s development and decrease chances of developmental delays. A child must be approved for early intervention, whereas not all children are. IDEA has placed stricter responsibilities on the child’s families to be more involved in the development of their child’s IFSP (Individualized Family Service Plan). The plan specifically states what services and needs the child requires.

2.     What are the three critical factors of early intervention?

The three critical factors of early intervention are level of intensity, parental involvement, and age of intervention. All three of these factors are dependent on the individual(s). The level of intensity of the intervention is determined by the child’s needs. Parental involvement is required under IDEA because they speak for the child’s and the family’s needs. The age of intervention is important because its better for the child to receive support as early as possible.

3.     Why should we use early intervention?

The use of early intervention is vital to some children’s success. As stated in Bethany’s paper, the US Department of Education says the three reasons for early intervention are to improve the child’s development, arrange for support and assistance to the family, and maximize the child’s and family’s benefit to society. An important statement in the paper suggested, “the earlier that a child receives intervention, the better the outcome.” Personally I work in an early intervention classroom and I could not agree more. In our room we work with children diagnosed with autism. We see first-hand how working with children in the preschool years helps a child properly develop with intense intervention methods, including ABA therapy.

4.     What are some challenges schools face when they implement RTI?

Some challenges schools face when they implement RTI are negative attitudes towards intervention, the lack of time, inadequate training of professionals, and lack of support.

I strongly agree with the argument of there’s not enough time and inadequate training.

5.     What are the stages of early intervention?

There are eight stages of early intervention. The first stage is recognition. This is where there are noticeable signs of a delay or abnormal behaviors. The second stage is pre-referral or RTI. As mentioned above, Response to Intervention (RTI) is used to identify early signs of academic problems. The third stage is referral for special education evaluation. The fourth stage is special education evaluation. The child is then assessed on numerous platforms to determine deficits, strengths, weaknesses, etc. The fifth stage is eligibility. Once a child is deemed eligible for special education services they move on to the sixth stage, IEP meeting. A panel of professionals and the child’s parents will then create the legal document that details the needs, services and accommodations for the child. The seventh stage is implementation. All who are associated with the IEP (service providers, teachers, parents, and more) are responsible for carrying out what is written. The eighth stage is reevaluation. At this time, the IEP team will once again meet to determine if the child demonstrates adequate progress. Children are covered under Part C of IDEA until the age of three. At that time the child must either have a transition plan to exit services or join Part B.