Opportunities for Early Intervention to Support Families With Children of Early Age in Wartime: Parents' View

Abstract

After the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the situation for families with young children with developmental delays or disabilities and children at risk was characterized by a significant loss of stability and predictability, which are necessary conditions for the child's development. The war destroyed the foundations of stable life, daily routines and relationships in families, on which the early childhood intervention is based. With the beginning of the war, the question arose about the ability of the early intervention service to carry out effective activities in support and accompaniment of families raising young children developmental delays or disabilities and children at risk. The purpose of the study was to determine the features of the functioning and possibilities of the early intervention service in support and accompaniment of families with young children in a war situation. A questionnaire was developed for the research. The analysis of the obtained results was carried out using the method of constant comparison. It has been proven that the early intervention service makes it possible to provide support to parents, ensure their awareness, emotional stability, sensitivity, and supports the parents' ability to "see" the child, understand his real needs. And this creates favorable conditions for the formation of child-parent relations, allows strengthening the existing and finding new family resources for experiencing traumatic events related to the war situation.