Early Intervention means Do. It. Now!

“Early intervention”. A large portion of my conversations each day with colleagues, teachers, parents, and other professionals interested in children and education, centers around early intervention. Why are so many of us talking about early identification, assessment and early intervention? What is it?

Early intervention is providing a child with services in the areas of development, play, social skills, communication and overall behavior skills as soon as the parent begins to have concerns about their child’s development in any of these areas. Parents will often tell me that they have noticed “something” seems not quite right but they are sure their child will grow out of it. This is not so.

Seeking early identification services, such as those offered through The Ollena Center for Early Childhood Assessment, can make a lifetime of difference for a child and his/her family. Early intervention services are designed based on the information derived from early identification and assessment. The longer parents wait, the less opportunity exists to receive the full benefit of the intervention services because the child’s brain is continuing to rapidly develop toward maturity. A child’s brains ability to learn new skills decreases with age.

In the online article Early Intervention Program Alters Brain Activity in Children with Autism, Dr. Insel is discussing the research findings of providing early intervention services to young children.

“This may be the first demonstration that a behavioral intervention for autism is associated with changes in brain function as well as positive changes in behavior,” commented Tom Insel, M.D., director of the National Institute of Mental Health. https://www.autismspeaks.org

Research supports providing early intervention services as young as possible. Very young children with the likely diagnosis of autism have been studied and show significant improvement in their ability to respond similarly to a child who does not have autism in many social interactions.

“The findings on improved behavioral outcomes and the ability to normalize brain activity associated with social activities signify that there is tremendous potential for the brains of children with autism to develop and grow more normally,” Rogers said. Published online in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry article Autism early intervention found to normalize brain activity in children as young as 18 months. http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/

At The Ollena Center, we do not make a diagnosis. We document the information from our professional observation and assessment that is necessary for a medical professional, like your child’s pediatrician, to make an accurate diagnosis.

I would encourage you to seek early identification, assessment and early intervention services as soon as possible, if you think you are seeing “something” in your child’s development and/or behavior that is concerning you. Contact The Ollena Center for Early Childhood Assessment at http://ollenacenter.com/. We understand and we want to help.