Early Childhood Intervention
As parents, we intervene all the time. When the baby is about to crawl off the couch, or pull down the vase from the table; when the toddler is pulling the cat’s tail; when the thoughtless five year old is about to step out onto the road without looking. We jump, make a move, stop the action.
Once our children head to school, we continue to intervene. If we see their grades are falling, we don’t stand by and watch. We talk to the teacher, find out what is happening, try something different. Intervening in our children’s lives is what a parent does.
Intervention for children with Autism or Developmental Disabilities is no different. We see our toddler heading down a path which is evidently making him unhappy. He’s frustrated; he’s stuck. He’s banging at a door which just won’t open.
What does a parent do? We stop the action. We make the deliberate decision to interfere, and try something different. We want to help our child find a different path.
Every path is unique. There’s no yellow brick road, there’s no bright light or flashing sign. We make the best decision we can, with the information we have at the time. We know our child; we know our family; we know ourselves. With that, we choose an individual path, allowing ourselves the right to stop the action at any time, to continue to intervene, make different decisions.
Intervention for children with Autism or Developmental Disabilities is a way of choosing a different path for our child, because he is not happy where he is, and we feel another way will be better. As parents, it’s our choice, and our responsibility.