The effectiveness of early intervention: a critical review.

Abstract

The following principles are now clearly defined in the management of children with developmental delay: (1) Multidisciplinary teams are more effective than individual therapeutic approaches. (2) The whole development of the child needs to be considered rather than a single deficient area alone. (3) Home-based programmes are more effective in the young preschool child than centre-based programmes alone. (4) Parent involvement in partnership with professionals is essential for sustained progress. (5) Maximum effectiveness is achieved when parental skills are increased. (6) Programmes commencing earlier in preschool years are more effective than those that commence late. This concept has been recently challenged and evidence supports benefits for the disadvantaged rather than the disabled. White also contends that there is 'simply not enough information to be confident about the long-term impact of early intervention with handicapped children and evidence in support of many of the commonly held positions about mediating variables (e.g. parental involvement, age at start) is either non-existent or contradictory. Early intervention is clearly effective in offering parental support, fostering parent/child relationships and diminishing anxiety even for those programmes that have not at present been proven in altering the developmental disability. Programmes that involve high cost, disrupt total family functioning, deflect scarce resources away from more proven areas of effectiveness should be discouraged, and they should never cause guilt in either parent or professional when they seem ineffective. Future research should include investigation of outcomes other than cognitive and physical functioning alone. We should be warned from the somewhat crisp statement of Mark Twain: 'There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment in fact'.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)