The Abu Dhabi Early Intervention Guide has been launched to help provide families and caregivers with guidelines to avail early intervention services for children with developmental delays or disabilities.
Announced by the Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Authority (ECA), with the help of several organisations, the guide will help in ensuring the welfare of children and people of determination to receive the care required at the right time.
Available in English and Arabic, the guide helps families focus on intervention in four key areas, physical development, cognitive development, behavioural development, and social and emotional development.
The evidence-based guide is designed to help parents identify if their child needs additional support, including speech therapy or occupational therapy, based on their developmental age and stage, to help children of determination to reach their full potential.
Early intervention support may include training and educational programs, therapeutic rehabilitation, physiotherapy, functional therapy, speech therapy, psychological care, family support services, sports activities, or a combination of some or all of these approaches.
His Excellency Eng. Thamer Rashed Al Qasimi, Executive Director of Special Projects and Partnerships Sector at the ECA said, "We work with our partners on ensuring constant improvement and development of early intervention services to fulfil children's various needs. Early childhood intervention is based on preventative, multidisciplinary approaches from which the services provided by the partners are derived, and whose effectiveness is directly related to the early detection of disabilities or developmental delays. The first five years of a child’s life are critical in terms of development and learning. The first three years, during which the child undergoes rapid development, are also of particular importance."
The guide is accessible via the ECA website.