Our pediatric services
Why might my child need an early interventionist?
Depending on your child’s needs, your child and your family may benefit from early intervention. An early interventionist is basically a teacher of very young children who visits your child in your home, daycare, or other setting. An early interventionist is different from a therapist, who focuses on specific skills and abilities such as speech, fine motor, or gross motor movements. She looks at HOW your child is LEARNING as a whole verses looking at his skills separately. She will help to build the child’s interest in an area of learning he may be weak in, such as, creating an interest in books. She will also assist in building everyday skills such as using a spoon, feeding, toileting, using the stairs, being mobile throughout the home, and BEHAVIOR or discipline techniques. Early interventionist will examine and assist in developing your child’s learning style, play skills, cognitive skills, and his learning environment.
Learning style: Each child learns skills in a different way, therefore, cannot be taught in the same manner as another child. Basically, what works for one, DOES NOT work for all. What type of learner is your child? Is he a passive or active learner? Does he learn better through visual learning or watching, by movement or doing a task, or by listening? Is he meeting the appropriate developmental milestones, and what is the best way to help him do this? An early interventionist can help you to understand your child’s learning style, and can adapt activities and routines to support that learning style.
Play Skills: Does your child have appropriate play skills? Since infants and children learn through play, if a child does not have the appropriate play skills for his age, he will have difficulty learning how to talk, move, and interact with his environment. The early interventionist examines how he plays with toys and object, how he plays with others, and how he plays when alone. She then teaches him and his caregivers how to facilitate appropriate play skills for learning.
Cognitive skills: Does he have age appropriate cognitive or thinking skills? How does he uses his hands to manipulate toys? This tells the early interventionist a lot about the child’s early writing and reading skills.
Learning environment: An early interventionist can assess how a child’s environment affects his learning and can detect any red flags in development that require a specialist. In doing this, she focuses on the child and family’s strengths and will assist the parents in developing and encouraging those strengths.
If you your child has delays in development, is having difficulty learning new skills, or is exhibiting difficult behavior, you and your family may benefit from an early interventionist.
