The Importance of Early Intervention

"The earlier you get intervention, the more you’ll see results earlier.” - Grace Petreman, M.A., ED, Developmental Specialist/PLAY Project Consultant

Roman playing with his Dad. I wanted to use this video to show just how much he's communicating with us after early intervention.

I recently interviewed an Early Intervention Specialist from a nearby county. My son participated in the "Help Me Grow" program in our state, for two years.

We had speech therapy sessions twice a month for about a year-and-a-half, and then we transitioned down to one session once a month. After our experience with early intervention, and the continued improvement we saw, I felt it was necessary to share it with all my readers.

Warning Signs

“Most of the time if your gut’s telling you like, my kid doesn’t seem to be doing what the other kids are doing, that might be a time to reach out," said Petreman.

At what point do you talk to your pediatrician?

“If you don’t hear words by three, two or three, for sure," she said, “If your child is talking to you, and they’re a little older I would say like 2-3 and you can’t understand most of what they’re saying, like their intelligibility is not quite there, maybe reach out to the pediatrician and ask for a referral.”

What if your pediatrician won't listen?

“If you present concerns and your pediatrician is dismissive, and you still have concern, I would, I would just ask again," said Petreman, "You really have to advocate sometimes.”

Early Intervention

How crucial is early intervention?

“Early intervention is crucial, it really is in my opinion," said Petreman, “Just in my experience, I’ve worked from birth to third grade, in various settings. The earlier you get intervention, the more you’ll see results earlier.”

How important is socialization?

“Nothing replaces another kid," she said, "Socialization is huge, and lack of opportunity for that, you do see kids have some struggles.”

“I can’t tell you how many kids I’ve had on my caseload that I say man, wait until they go to preschool it’s going to be fantastic," said Petreman, "They just bloom.”

Where do you go for help?

Petreman recommends starting with this website, ohioearlyintervention.org, if you live in Ohio.

If not, ask your pediatrician for a referral.

Connect with me!

Please, feel free to reach out to me on social or email. I would love to hear your stories, share your stories on this platform, but also do the research and ask experts what we can do to give our kids the best future possible.