I’d never heard of Early Intervention until a friend mentioned it in passing when Ryan was 4 months old. Free physical therapy!? It definitely sounded like something we might need to look into, if Ryan didn’t start to catch up on his developmental milestones.

I asked our pediatrician about it at our next appointment. She told us that we probably wouldn’t qualify, that your child needs to be far behind on his milestones and it was a pain to apply to in NYC, where we lived. We applied anyway. I’m so glad we ignored her (and later switched pediatricians) and pursued Early Intervention. The application process was much simpler than we expected, and Ryan qualified for all therapies–physical, occupational and developmental. (Speech wasn’t offered until children were older.) So that’s how we got started with a therapy regimen by the time Ryan was 6 months old. I can’t imagine how far behind he would be if we had waited, or if we had listened to our doctor.

So what is Early Intervention? It’s a federal program administered at the state level to provide children from birth to age 3 with the therapies needed to catch up to their peers developmentally.

According to the CDC website, Early Intervention:

• Is the term used to describe the services and supports that are available to babies and young children with developmental delays and disabilities and their families.
• May include speech therapy, physical therapy, and other types of services based on the needs of the child and family.
• Can have a significant impact on a child’s ability to learn new skills and overcome challenges and can increase success in school and life.
• Programs are available in every state and territory. These publicly funded programs provide services for free or at reduced cost for any child who is eligible.

Different states may call their Early Intervention programs different names (i.e., Indiana calls it First Steps) and charge different amounts (it may be free or they may charge based on your income, etc).

Check out the CDC website here which has links to all Early Intervention programs across the country, and apply today beca

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