What Is Early Intervention?
While we're on the subject of early intervention: I've been researching the topic, looking for real scientific evidence that an autistic child who receives services prior to age three is MORE likely to do well in later life than a child who receives services starting at, say, age five.
I've found plenty of research saying that the brain grows and learns very fast during the earliest years. And I've found a number of studies that look at different types of early intervention programs and suggest that one might be preferable to another. Some studies suggest that parental involvement may play a significant factor (no surprise there!).
So far, though, I haven't found the study that says "children who receive earlier intervention do better than children (or even adults) who receive later intervention." Since early intervention is a basic tenet of autism treatment, I'm assuming the studies must be out there somewhere... If you can point me in their direction, I'd be grateful!
Comments
Your expertise and background could really benefit research based programs and policy development in my opinion. There is not a lot of research i.e. long term studies on individuals who are born with the condition because of what you specified, meaning an apparent lack of early identification, and/or unrealized manifestations of symptoms. Thanks for your helpful articles. There are advocates for Birth to Three programs, receive funding for children born with developmental disabilities to get them the services they need to have a better quality of life. Perhaps. Like you inferred, many questions are left unanswered as of yet. I think it is because of the way we perceive individuals, culturally and socially. We need to have a more holistic approach rather than pin people’s quirks on one single thing.