Why is it so important to enrol children who need learning support into a high quality Early Intervention Program (EIP) as early as possible?
For children who have learning differences, it can be a struggle to keep up with curriculum in their kindergarten or preschool. As parents, it is our responsibility to ensure that our children with learning differences ought to receive early intervention services — services that involve therapy and educational support services to provide for a child’s unique needs during the early childhood years, giving them a head start in their development.
With high quality early intervention, a child will receive therapy and educational support services that are catered to his or her unique needs. This means that the child can have support to improve developmental outcomes, and he/she has a better chance of entering mainstream schools in the formal education system.
What action can parents take to provide a head start to their child’s development?
Early intervention programmes should be provided for all children with learning differences in Singapore. A timely decision to enrol your child in MindChamps Allied Care Early Intervention Programme could mean an opportunity to change a child’s development trajectory and heighten the child’s future success in academic performance, development of essential life skills, behaviour, and in leading an independent, productive life.
Signs of Developmental Delay or Missed Milestones
There are many different types of developmental delays in infants and young children. They include challenges with:
Language or speech
Movement – known as motor skills
Social and emotional skills
Thinking – known as cognitive skills
Vision or perceptual skills
How will delayed treatment widen the gap between the child and his/her peers?
With early intervention, a child will receive therapy and educational support services that are catered to his or her learning needs. This will be valuable for the child. Through early intervention programmes, one can provide therapy for the areas of challenges and improve developmental outcomes, and the child has a better chance of entering mainstream schools in the formal education system.
With delay in intervention, the child will lose valuable time within the first 6 years of his/her life, where good quality intervention could provide lifelong positive impact on his/her progress in life. The gaps between the child and his/her peers can also widen as the peers continue to develop at a pace that is beyond the child’s ability to catch up.
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MindChamps Allied Care EIP Programme Vs. Other EIP Programmes
Among many choices for Early Intervention in the market, MindChamps EIP stands out with our strong framework tapping on AEPS® (Assessment, Evaluation, and Programming System for Infants and Children), a comprehensive, proven, reliable, and highly regarded system that has been helping children for decades. The AEPS® is more than an assessment and more than a curriculum. The assessment components yield educationally relevant, meaningful, and functional information that is used to formulate developmentally appropriate goals and objectives for children. These goals and objectives are also closely addressed in the curriculum so as to achieve optimal progress for the children.
MindChamps Allied Care’s Early Intervention Programme (EIP Programme) core intervention approach will utilise a curriculum and criterion based system – AEPS® which serves to
identify children’s strengths and emerging skills across developmental areas
identify functional goals and objectives for Individual Education Plans (IEP)s or other individualized plans
assist in planning and guiding intervention
monitor children’s progress over time
This article is reviewed by MindChamps Allied Care team.