Your baby is 18 months old and still hasn’t spoken their first word. Developmental setbacks such as this always send parents into a panic. You want your child to thrive in life.
Take a deep breath and start looking into early intervention services. What is early intervention? They offer therapy and other treatment options to help your little one develop.
You only need to make sure that they qualify first. After that, you’ll sit down with someone to talk about program options.
Not sure if you want to go through the process yet? Keep reading to learn for sure If it would be right for your toddler.
What is Early Intervention?
Let’s go over the general scope of early intervention. Developmental delays can be solved if you catch them soon enough. That’s what these programs are for.
They can use a mixture of speech, physical, and occupational therapy to help at-risk children thrive. With time, they’ll meet the milestones that they are supposed to meet.
What Are the Benefits?
There are many benefits of early intervention services. The major one is that it works. Children who are enrolled in these programs have a better chance of getting past their difficulties to succeed in school.
These programs usually have a small teacher-to-student ratio. This means that your little one will get the special attention that they need to thrive.
As your child goes through the program, the therapists and instructors will stay in contact with you every step of the way. They’ll even give you instructions that you can use to continue their treatment right at home. This article will give you a sneak peek at what you’ll have to do.
When is it Time to Seek Out Early Intervention?
The basic early intervention age is 7 months if the child is showing a substantial developmental delay. If they are only having minor problems with learning, you can still request an intervention when they reach 30 months.
How Can You Request an Intervention?
So, how do you request early intervention? Their regular doctor can tell you which services to call. From there, they will test your child to make sure that they need help.
Each state has its own rules when it comes to who qualifies. For the most part, they either have to show signs of a delay or have a health condition that could lead to one.
Some children will automatically pass the evaluation. These are kids who were born premature or born with some kind of defect.
If your child doesn’t qualify, but you’re still concerned about the delay, therapists can tell you how to push the child’s development along on your own.
Helping Your Child Develop and Thrive
Developmental delays are enough to send any parent into a panic. Ease your worries by looking into early intervention services. What is early intervention?
It’s a series of programs that are specially catered to help at-risk children thrive and set them up for success in school and beyond.
Are you looking for more ways to help your little one become the best that they can be? Check out our blog for all the latest parenting tips.
