EARLY INTERVENTION

Child development research has established that the rate of human learning and development is most rapid in the preschool and primary school years. A good early intervention program works towards the child's increased developmental and educational gains and decreased dependence upon society. It focuses on the 3-to-12 age group there is an emergent need to develop and implement a comprehensive, coordinated, multidisciplinary, system that provides early intervention services for pre-school to primary school children with learning disabilities and their families.

BENEFITS OF GOOD EARLY INTERVENTION PROGRAMME

One of the most critical features for a good intervention program is that it should focus on families. This principle includes parent empowerment, establishment of parent–professional partnerships, and recognition of the significance of family patterns of interaction to children's development and well-being. In promoting an optimal model of service delivery, we combine the expert contributions of health and educational professionals along with parents to put together an individualized comprehensive care package of evidence-based services. Multidisciplinary professionals such as developmental paediatrician, occupational therapists, speech therapists, clinical psychologists, school counsellors, etc work as an integrated team to gather a complete history of the client, including birth and development status, school, social and adaptive functioning, and behavioural development. Team members' co-ordinate how and when each one will need to enter and leave the team depending on the priorities for the child and structure of the intervention plan.

INDIVIDUALISTIC LEARNING STYLES OF CHILD

Most often, in a structured learning environment we tend to use the first three senses to facilitate our learning process i.e. AUDITORY, VISUAL and TACTILE. As we grow and learn to use our senses, we begin to establish individualistic learning styles. As facilitators we often tend to use methods that work for ourselves as teachers and parents. In order to maximize learning advantages, we must define the type of learner one is and cater to that particular learning style.

Some signs that help us determine what learning style we use is mentioned below:

• Visual Learners:

Use visual materials such as pictures, charts, maps, graphs, etc. Use colour to highlight important points in text. Illustrate their ideas as a picture or makes mind maps before writing them down. Use multi-media (e.g. computers, videos). Visualize information as a picture to aid memorization.

• Auditory Learners:

Participate in class discussions/debates. Use a tape recorder during lectures instead of taking notes. Read text out aloud. Create mnemonics to aid memorization.Use verbal analogies, and storytelling to demonstrate their point.

• Tactile/Kinesthetic Learners:

Take frequent study breaks. Move around to learn new things (e.g. read while on an exercise bike, mold a piece of clay to learn a new concept). Listen to music while studying.

• Visual/Spatial Intelligence:

These learners tend to think in pictures to retain information. They enjoy looking at maps, books, pictures, and videos. Their skills include puzzle building, reading, writing, understanding charts and graphs, a good sense of direction, sketching, painting, creating visual metaphors and analogies, manipulating images, constructing, fixing, designing practical objects, interpreting visual images.

• Logical/Mathematical Intelligence:

These learners think conceptually in logical and numerical patterns making connections between pieces of information. Always curious about the world around them, these learners ask lots of questions and like to do experiments. Their skills include problem solving, classifying & categorizing information, working with abstract concepts to figure out the relationship of each to the other, questioning and wondering about natural events, performing complex mathematical calculations, working with geometric shapes.

• Bodily/Kinesthetic Intelligence:

It is the ability to control body movements and handle objects skillfully. These learners express themselves through movement. They have a good sense of balance and eye-hand co-ordination. (E.g. ball play, balancing beams). Through interacting with the space around them, they are able to remember and process information. Their skills include dancing, physical co-ordination, sports, hands on experimentation, using body language, crafts, and acting, miming, using their hands to create or build, and expressing emotions through the body.

• Musical/Rhythmic Intelligence:

It is the ability to produce and appreciate music. These musically inclined learners think in sounds, rhythms and patterns. They immediately respond to music either appreciating or criticizing what they hear. Many of these learners are extremely sensitive to environmental sounds (e.g. crickets, bells, dripping taps). Their skills include singing, whistling, playing musical instruments, recognizing tonal patterns, composing music, remembering melodies, understanding the structure and rhythm of music.