Module 6  Early Childhood Special Education

The landmark legislation PL 99-457 passed in 1986 was significant in that it added infants from birth to 5 years of age to the list of children who are covered under the law for services related to disabilities. The key concept of the change in law was that early intervention during the early stages of development would have a more significant impact on acquisition of more complex skills than might be achieved if services were delayed to later ages.

This law also recognized that family involvement is critical during these early stages because of the complexity of the parent’s roles in supporting their children. For this reason, early childhood intervention is most often delivered with supportive services for the family through a multidisciplinary assessment, an individual family service plan (IFSP) and services to meet developmental needs of the child.  

In applying the concept of least restrictive environment (LRE) to young children, PL 99-457 identifies the preferred setting for services to be the natural environment for the age of such children which in the 0-3 age group is most likely to be the home, and can include community settings, such as Head Start in which children without disabilities may participate.

Planning for early intervention can include home based programs, center based programs, combinations of home and centers, or hospital based programs. Inclusion models have resulted in children being enrolled in day care and early education programs that provide for increased social interaction and facilitation of language and play skills. These match the four developmental domains – communication, affective-social, cognitive and sensorimotor – which children normally progress in during the years prior to age 5. A variety of theoretical orientations exist. Age-related milestones for development assist in designing curriculum targets which encourage acquisition of skills. Family focused planning recognizes that a child is part of a greater social milieu, the family. That model seeks to empower the family teaching and encouraging them in advocacy, problem-solving and independent decision-making skills which will help them help their child in the future.

A key resource for current information about early childhood invention with links to additional resources:

The National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center supports the implementation of the early childhood provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Their mission is to strengthen service systems to ensure that children with disabilities (birth through five) and their families receive and benefit from high quality, culturally appropriate, and family-centered supports and services.

In October 2001, the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the U.S. Department of Education (ED) awarded the TA Center contract to the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The center also has staff through a subcontract with the Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights (PACER) Center in Minneapolis, MN.

Here is an interesting link to a policy letter from the US Department of Education to the Illinois Dept of Special Education regarding decisions should be made for a child with changing medical needs: http://www.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/idea/letters/2004-2/gully042804therapy2q2004.pdf

This link takes you to a site listing a number of early childhood on-line resources which include professional journals: http://www.nectac.org/chouse/journals.asp

Want to know more about early childhood interventions? There are a number of on-line discussion groups you may join. Here are two of them:

The Early Childhood and Parenting Collaborative (ECAP), located at the University of Illinois, hosts several electronic discussion groups on topics related to early care and education.

The Information Center on Disabilities and Gifted Education, located at the Council for Exceptional Children, maintains a list of discussion groups on topics related to special education.