Early Intervention for Young Children with Disabilities

This book focuses on the provision of early intervention for children with disabilities (0-6 years) and their families throughout the Asia-Pacific. The motivation for the book stems from a policy brief by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) issued in 2021. This brief urgently called for young children with disabilities to be identified and to receive intervention and support in lower-income countries throughout Asia and the Pacific. The ESCAP has estimated that at least 33% of young children with disabilities across the region currently lack any service or support to optimise their development before entering school. This book seeks to inform policy and provision within lower-income countries by providing policymakers in government and non-government organisations with practical guidelines. In particular, it presents real-world frameworks and promising programs to assist in establishing and delivering early intervention services that cater to local needs and demands. It also introduces personnel in the field to recommended intervention practices and strategies that support children with diverse disabilities across the age range birth 6 years. It also includes suggestions and strategies for supporting and collaborating with the children’s families. Importantly, when blended with early child development material, these practices and strategies constitute essential topics for ongoing professional development and training activities. The concluding chapter also presents a critical analysis and synthesis of policies, service models, and programs across the Asia-Pacific region. From this analysis, recommendations are presented with likely translatability to countries at different stages of development in delivering quality early intervention to this vulnerable group of children.