The Children’s Home is now an Early Intervention provider!
What is Early Intervention?
Pennsylvania’s Early Intervention program is a FREE program that provides coaching support and services to families with children, from birth to age three, with developmental delays and disabilities. Early Intervention focuses on helping your child meet individual goals. These therapies are provided in your child’s natural environment, including childcare centers.
Services:
- Physical Therapy
- Occupational Therapy
- Feeding Therapy
- Speech Therapy
- Developmental Therapy
- Nutrition Therapy
- Social Services
Early Intervention and support 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 to become more independent
- Building your child’s potential for future outcomes
- Supporting communities to become more aware of the gifts and abilities of all children
Who is eligible?
- Prolonged hospitalizations
- Children who have a condition that has a high probability of leading to developmental delays
- Delays in one or more areas of development
- Children who are eligible through use of informed clinical opinion
Developmental monitoring for at risk children
- birthweight under 3lbs 5oz
- children who were in the NICU
- exposure to drugs or alcohol
- involvement with CYF due to serious abuse or neglect
- a confirmed elevated lead level
- experiencing homelessness as defined by Act 143 amendment to PA Act 212
Principles of Family Centered Services
The following principles have been adopted by the Commonwealth of PA to serve as a guide for all agencies funded to provide Early Intervention services:
- Celebrate all children and their families
- Recognize that families are the constant in a child’s life, which means they know their child
- Recognize that each child and family is unique by honoring their beliefs and cultural, linguistic, racial and socioeconomic diversity
- Share with parents, on a continuing basis
- Recognize and value family strengths
- Honor family priorities
- Recognize and value families’ dreams for their children
- Respect choices and decisions made by the family
- Respect family’s right to accept or decline supports
- Respect a family’s different methods of coping with life’s events
- Provide a range of option which are flexible and can be adapted to meet the unique needs of the child and family
Contact our Director of Therapy Services, Renee Gwin, at Therapy@chomepgh.org with any questions regarding The Children’s Home’s Early Intervention Services.