Effect of “EYE to ‘I’®” – An Early Intervention Model on Social Language Development for Children with Neuro- Developmental Difficulties

Abstract

Recent research on services available for early intervention in New Delhi, India highlights that, there exists a lacuna between the services available and needs of a child with neurodevelopment disorder. The dual needs of a special child, which define his age and his syndrome, are not appropriately focused by the services available in India. The focus of the services available is on making the child adaptive to environment and scholastic skills. It is strongly felt that the focus should be on skill development of the child, to make him socially interactive, expressive and developing his theory of mind. The paper presents an Early Intervention Model, Eye To ‘I’®, which includes an integration of language therapy in play -based interaction with special education, speech therapy and occupational therapy. The study highlights the significance & suggested effectiveness of this comprehensive, play-based model for Social Communication and language development in children diagnosed with neurodevelopment disorders, mainly autism.