What is Early Intervention?

Early intervention in Pennsylvania is services and supports designed to help families with children who have developmental delays.  Early intervention builds upon the natural learning occurring in those first few years.  It is a process that promotes collaboration among parents, service providers, and others significantly involved with your child.  With your help, early intervention services and supports can enhance your child’s development by:

• Answering your questions about your child’s development;                  
• Enhancing your capacity to meet the developmental needs of your child throughout daily routines at home and in the community;
• Enhancing your child’s developmental and educational growth; 
• Supporting your child with developmental delays to become more independent; 
• Preventing the need for more and costly intervention in the future; and 
• Supporting communities to become more aware of the gifts and abilities of all its children.

Early Intervention services are designed to meet the developmental needs of an infant or toddler with a disability and the needs of the family related to enhancing the infant or toddler's development in one or more of the following areas:

1. Physical development, including vision and hearing – the ability to move, see and hear
2. Cognitive development – the ability to think and learn
3. Communication development – the ability to talk and express needs
4. Social or emotional development – the ability to relate to others
5. Adaptive development – the ability to eat, dress, and take care of oneself