Early Intervention

For infants and toddlers with developmental delays and impairments, our early intervention program offers individual and group treatment services focusing on development in five areas: communication skills, fine and gross motor skills, cognition, socialization, and self-help skills.

Experts acknowledge that early intervention minimizes social and academic problems and increases self-esteem as children age. Our early intervention program is for infants and toddlers with developmental delays and impairments. Therapeutic early intervention services are available in both individual and group settings and features a parent training component.

Areas Addressed in Early Intervention

Communication: Includes both using words (expressive language) and understanding words (receptive language).

Fine and Gross Motor: Includes using the small muscles of the hands for daily tasks as well as using the large muscles of the arms and legs for walking, kicking, and throwing.

Cognition: Addresses the underlying way children process information, laying a foundation for future academic ability.

Social Interaction: Attends to the peer to peer interactions and the peer to adult interactions of young children.

Self-Help (Adaptive): Looks at skills laying the foundation to independently take care of activities of daily living (i.e. feeding, dressing, toileting).

Types of Services

Early Intervention sessions at CSLOT are available as individual sessions or group sessions. Based on the child’s assessment results, an Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP) is written and appropriate services are determined. Those services may be provided as individual sessions, group sessions, or a combination of the two services.

Individual Services

Individual Speech Therapy

Children with significant speech and language impairment may qualify for individual speech and language therapy. In speech therapy, a speech-language pathologist works one-on-one with the child and the child’s family. Goals are targeted to the specific needs of the child and all activities are shaped toward achieving them. Parent/caregiver training is a critical component of individual speech therapy sessions.

Individual Occupational Therapy

Children with significant motor impairment may qualify for individual occupational therapy. In occupational therapy, an occupational therapist works one-on-one with the child and the child’s family. Goals are targeted to the specific needs of the child and all activities are shaped around achieving them. Parent/caregiver training is a critical component of individual occupational therapy sessions.

Home-Based Individual Early Intervention Therapy

Children who have significant impairment in two or more developmental areas may qualify to receive home-based individual early intervention therapy, funded by California’s Regional Centers. In home-based early intervention therapy, an early interventionist works one-on-one with the child and the child’s family in the child’s home or other community-based location, such as a park or a restaurant. The early interventionist works under the direction of a speech-language pathologist or occupational therapist. Goals are targeted to the specific needs of the child and all activities are shaped toward achieving them. Parent/caregiver training is a critical component of services. Therefore, parents are required to be present at home and encouraged to participate in sessions.

Intensive Services

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)

CSLOT offers ABA and draws from other methodologies, such as Pivotal Response Therapy, the SCERTS Model, and DIR (Developmental Individual-difference Relationship-based model). Treatment occurs in individual and/or group sessions in the clinic and at home.

All children receive individual treatment, the intensity and frequency of which is decided by the Board Certified Behavior Analyst, who performs an evaluation and sets recommended goals.  While in group treatment, the child is supported by her individual behavior technician, who also administers individual treatment. Thus, children receive ABA in individual sessions and then practice their newly learned skills and behaviors in a group context as well as in their homes. Families learn the methods used in therapy, and receive the support they need to help their child achieve emotional regulation and communicate effectively.

How Do We Know Our Treatment Works?

Objective measures of progress can be seen from pre- and post-treatment test scores collected for each of the children in our Early Intervention program. We share each child’s test results with parents so they can be assured of progress. When we review and analyze the data from all children in our Early Intervention program, we can see the efficacy of the program. Expressive communication is the area where we have made our greatest gains. On average, children in the program realize 1.8 months of developmental gain in expressive language per month, nearly twice the developmental gain that their typical peers make in a month’s time.