Early Care In Children With Special Needs
Many families are overwhelmed by having a child with difficulties. Is it your case? Do not worry! Because today there are many professionals who are dedicated to Early Care in children with special needs.
To achieve a good prognosis and evolutionary development in these children, the ideal is to treat their difficulties from babies. In addition, the family requires help to solve their doubts and concerns. Also to learn how to get the most out of your child through simple, everyday actions.
These needs can be covered by Early Intervention. This service assesses the characteristics of the child and his environment. Once the information is collected, a personalized intervention is proposed that allows the child to evolve and develop their skills.
What is early intervention?
Early Care consists of carrying out a set of interventions with children from 0 to 6 years old who present certain transitory or permanent needs. These can be explained by the presence of a developmental disorder or by being at risk of suffering from it.
These interventions must be planned by a team of professionals from different disciplines specialized in:
- Psychotherapy and psychological support.
- Speech therapy.
- Physiotherapy.
- Psychomotor skills.
- Early stimulation.
The specialists must work as a team to achieve the goals established in the different areas of development and obtain the best possible care in all areas of the child’s life.
In this sense, it must be taken into account that currently in Early Care two models or approaches are followed :
- Ecological model. It is based on the relationship and interaction of the child with his environment. Therefore, it implies that the family and the immediate environment (school, health center, etc.) participate in the intervention.
- Biopsychosocial model. It refers to the importance of developing the integration of the child in the family, school and social environment, as well as their personal autonomy.
Early detection in children with special needs
Early detection is essential to begin therapeutic intervention. It is important to look for and observe certain warning signs that may indicate the presence of a childhood developmental disorder.
In the event of suspicions, you must seek the help of professionals so that they can make a diagnosis. In it, biological, psychological, social and educational aspects must be valued. Therefore, an evaluation should be carried out that considers:
- The evolutionary development of the child. Communication skills, socio-emotional development, cognitive processes, learning style, psychomotor development, responsiveness to the environment, play skills, etc.
- The characteristics of their family and social context. Economic and sociocultural level, risk of abuse or neglect, etc.
- The relationship established with their parents. Information need, family malaise, resource needs, level of trust, etc.
Therefore, not only the individual aspects and difficulties of the child are valued, but also how their environment affects their development are taken into account.
Early intervention intervention for children with special needs
Once a diagnosis has been established, it is time for intervention.
To carry out a good intervention in Early Intervention, professionals must follow the White Paper on Early Intervention . This document was prepared by the Early Attention Group (GAT), in order to serve as a reference for public administrations, professionals, associations and families.
In general terms, for the intervention, an individualized program must be set up for each child, considering their needs and possibilities in four areas of development:
- Motorboat.
- Perceptual-cognitive.
- Socio-communicative
- Autonomy.
The program must include the timing of the objectives, the methodology and the evaluation, and the monitoring of the results that are obtained.
Early Care for families and school
During the intervention, Early Care professionals have to support families, teach them skills for the education and interpretation of their child’s behaviors and offer them information on everything related to specific resources for the child (recognition of handicap, dependency assessment , individual aids, financial benefits, technical aids, etc.).
On the other hand, they must also be in charge of informing the school about the situation of the child and the family. So that they can set spaces in which common pedagogical objectives and learning strategies are established.
Ultimately, Early Care should focus on guiding and helping the child, his family and his school environment. It is about considering the child as a whole, responding to their individual needs, those of their family and those of their environment.
