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Early intervention is key for treating developmental disabilities and global developmental delay

According to the medical literature, an estimated 15% of children in the United States have at least one developmental delay with the most common being speech and language.  Developmental delay is important to recognize and address early.  When your child is young and still growing, doctors will assess developmental milestones to make sure your child’s development is on track.  Your doctor might identify some important “red-flag” milestones to monitor.   It is important that any delay in milestones is identified as early as possible.  My hypothesis is because when the brain is young, it is very “plastic”, meaning it can learn much easier compared to when we are older.   If your child has a developmental disability, learning disability, or global developmental delay, early intervention to help support them has been shown to have better outcomes later in life.  

Early identification allows for earlier treatment of any possible underlying condition that may be contributing to, or worsening the delay. 

Early intervention also allows parents and teachers to provide appropriate activities and stimulation to help their child understand and cope with their delay. 

Early identification of developmental delay is key

There have been many systematic reviews, observational studies, and randomized control studies which analyze interventions for children with developmental delay. These studies demonstrate that early identification of developmental problems results in improved outcomes for children in both the short-term and long-term. 

Early intervention is associated with a decreased need for special education services in school years. 

There have also been studies that show the benefits of early intervention can last up to 49 years after the intervention is provided!  Therefore, the younger a child is given the resources to cope with a disability, the more likely they are to understand how to cope in their day-to-day lives as adults.

Other outcomes that are affected by early intervention for developmental delay include higher high school graduation rates, higher employment rates, reduced teen pregnancy rates, and decreased criminal behavior and violence. 

Please see your health care professional if you have concerns about your child’s development.

This post was co-authored by Suzanne Black, MD, BSc and Stephanie Liu, MD, MSc, CCFP, BHSc.

References:

  1. Anderson LM, Shinn C, Fullilove MT, et al. The effectiveness of early childhood development programs. A systematic review. Am J Prev Med 2003; 24:32.
  2. Barnett WS. Long-term cognitive and academic effects of early childhood education on children in poverty. Prev Med 1998; 27:204.
  3. Palfrey JS, Hauser-Cram P, Bronson MB, et al. The Brookline Early Education Project: a 25-year follow-up study of a family-centered early health and development intervention. Pediatrics 2005; 116:144.
  4. Campbell FA, Pungello EP, Miller-Johnson S, et al. The development of cognitive and academic abilities: growth curves from an early childhood educational experiment. Dev Psychol 2001; 37:231.
  5. Shonkoff JP, Hauser-Cram P. Early intervention for disabled infants and their families: a quantitative analysis. Pediatrics 1987; 80:650.
  6. Reynolds AJ, Temple JA, Robertson DL, Mann EA. Long-term effects of an early childhood intervention on educational achievement and juvenile arrest: A 15-year follow-up of low-income children in public schools. JAMA 2001; 285:2339.
  7. van Agt HM, van der Stege HA, de Ridder-Sluiter H, et al. A cluster-randomized trial of screening for language delay in toddlers: effects on school performance and language development at age 8. Pediatrics 2007; 120:1317.
  8. Effectiveness of early special education for handicapped children. Colorado Department of Education, CO 1983.
  9. National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, Committee on Integrating the Science of Early Childhood Development. From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development. Shonkoff JP, Phillips DA, eds. National Academies Press, W
  10. First LR, Palfrey JS. The infant or young child with developmental delay. N Engl J Med 1994; 330:478.
  11. Schonwald A, Horan K, Huntington N. Developmental screening: is there enough time? Clin Pediatr (Phila) 2009; 48:648.
  12. McCormick MC, Brooks-Gunn J, Buka SL, et al. Early intervention in low birth weight premature infants: results at 18 years of age for the Infant Health and Development Program. Pediatrics 2006; 117:771.
  13. Roberts MY, Kaiser AP. Early intervention for toddlers with language delays: a randomized controlled trial. Pediatrics 2015; 135:686.
  14. Spittle A, Orton J, Anderson PJ, et al. Early developmental intervention programmes provided post hospital discharge to prevent motor and cognitive impairment in preterm infants. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2015; :CD005495.
  15. McCarton CM, Brooks-Gunn J, Wallace IF, et al. Results at age 8 years of early intervention for low-birth-weight premature infants. The Infant Health and Development Program. JAMA 1997; 277:126.
  16. Herrod HG. Do first years really last a lifetime? Clin Pediatr (Phila) 2007; 46:199.
  17. Walker SP, Chang SM, Vera-Hernández M, Grantham-McGregor S. Early childhood stimulation benefits adult competence and reduces violent behavior. Pediatrics 2011; 127:849.

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