Effective Practices in the Croatian Early Childhood Intervention Service: What Have We Learnt from its Implementation?

Abstract

The inclusion of children with neurodevelopmental disorders or children at risk of such disorders and their families in early childhood intervention programmes must be initiated and implemented in good time so that the most sensitive phases of child development and the emotional support of parents can be optimally utilised. Every country has their own protocol for informing parents about early childhood intervention services and different approaches to working with children and families. To identify the best possible approaches, we conducted semi-structured interviews with professionals working in the field of early childhood intervention and compared our findings with the international context and previous research. The professionals interviewed for this purpose emphasised the importance of initial team assessments, consistent recommendations to parents, and the implementation of different methods to support the needs of the children and families. Considering these and previous findings, we argue that it is critical to develop a framework of consistent guidelines for all service providers and to find a common language and assessment methods between the different professions and institutions that provide early childhood support. Furthermore, it is important to identify a key person to act as a source of information about the needs of the child and family and to coordinate co-operation between systems. Such measures would enable parents to receive timely, coherent, understandable and useful information that meets the needs of their family, as well as holistic support for a child from all systems.