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Early Intervention: Resources for Families, Childcare, and Early Childhood Teachers

When a very young child shows delays in development, there are services in Illinois to support the child and their family. Early intervention (EI) services focus on infants and toddlers with disabilities and delays, birth through age 3, and their families.

This tool kit includes resources that explain early intervention in Illinois and help families understand whether their child is on track with developmental milestones. It also describes EI resources for families and provides EI resources for early childhood professionals, illustrating how EI and childcare can work together.

What Is Early Intervention?

Early Intervention is a service provided for young children, ages 0-3, with disabilities and developmental delays. If you are just beginning to learn about early intervention in Illinois, the videos Illinois Action Early Intervention and Introduction to Early Intervention are great places to start your knowledge journey.

Is My Child on Track?

Families may be concerned about their child’s development. Becoming familiar with the developmental milestones for your child’s age is important. Watching your child as they play, move, and learn gives you information about how your child is hitting milestones. CDC’s Developmental Milestones and Development from Birth to 12 Months Old: Forming a Trusting Bond to Nurture Learning are great tools for learning more about milestones and delays.

Navigating the world of developmental milestones can be challenging. The IEL blog Developmental Milestones, Infant Toddler Guidelines, and Early Learning Standards: Metrics for Young Children, explains what milestones, guidelines, and standards are and how they are used in early childhood education and early intervention.

It can be helpful for parents to have an overall understanding of how children learn and grown. The IEL tool kit Child Development can help families learn about the general pattern of physical, social, and emotional development from birth to age 5 and what they should do if they are concerned about their child’s development.

Sometimes parents have specific areas of concern, such as speech and language or motor development. To learn more about these specific domains, take a look at these IEL resource lists:

EI Resources for Families

Families of infants and toddlers can learn more about early intervention. A great place to start is with the video illustration, Parents and Early Intervention. The steps for accessing early intervention in Illinois are explained in the Early Intervention Clearinghouse’s webpage, The Early Intervention Process.

Other helpful resources from Illinois Early Learning include:

EI Resources for Early Childhood Professionals

Early childhood professionals working with infants and toddlers will want to have a strong knowledge base of how the early intervention system works. A Guide to Early Intervention Services in Illinois is a helpful starting point. Childcare teachers may be unfamiliar with EI services, and can gain helpful understanding from the resource Working with Early Intervention as a Child Care Provider. Early Intervention services should always be provided in a child’s natural environment. This point is nicely illustrated in Early Intervention & Child Care … Natural Partners in Natural Environments.

Illinois Early Learning has a few podcasts that can provide additional perspective on the early intervention relationships built upon parents, EI providers, and childcare staff.

IEL Resources

Web Resources

A Guide to Early Intervention Services in Illinois (also in Spanish)
Source: Early Intervention Training Program (EITP)

This booklet describes how the early intervention system works in Illinois and how childcare providers can help support young children with disabilities and delays and their families

CDC’s Developmental Milestones (also in Spanish)
Source: Centers on Disease Control (CDC)

Skills such as taking a first step, smiling for the first time, and waving “bye bye” are called developmental milestones. Children reach milestones in how they play, learn, speak, act, and move (crawling, walking, etc.). This website lists developmental milestones for children ages 2 months through 5 years.

Development from Birth to 12 Months Old: Forming a Trusting Bond to Nurture Learning
Source: Zero to Three

These downloadable booklets provide information on developmental milestones for parents of very young children birth through 12 months. Learn what to expect, what you can do, and what your baby needs most.

Early Intervention and Child Care…Natural Partners in Natural Environments
Source: Early Intervention Training Program (EITP)

This video discusses and shows the many benefits of early intervention services for children in their childcare setting. EI providers, childcare providers, and families share their experiences of how this partnership benefits everyone involved.

The Early Intervention Process (also in Spanish)
Source: Illinois Early Intervention Clearinghouse

This page outlines the three main steps needed to access early intervention in Illinois.

Illinois Action Early Intervention
Source: Illinois Action for Children

This short two-minute video explains what early intervention is and how EI in Illinois helps infants and toddlers reach their potential.

Introduction to Early Intervention
Source: Early Intervention Training Program (EITP)

This 15-minute video discusses and shows the many benefits for supporting early intervention services for children and their families. EI providers and families share their experiences of how this partnership benefits everyone involved.

Parents and Early Intervention
Source: Early Intervention Training Program (EITP)

This 8-minute video highlights one Illinois family’s journey through the Early Intervention process with their first child.

Working with Early Intervention as a Child Care Provider (also in Spanish)
Source: Early Intervention Training Program (EITP)

This handout gives childcare teachers the steps for EI referral and intervention and provides advice on how to work together with early intervention as a team for a young child with disabilities or delays