The benefits of early childhood intervention programs

Includes bibliographical references.Early intervention programs have been around for a long time. The goals of many early intervention programs are to enhance the child's development and to provide support and assistance to the family. Early intervention programs like Head Start and preschool help parents who lack the finances to prepare their children for elementary school (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2005). These programs help many children prepare for kindergarten by exposing the children to a “school like” environment. Early childhood intervention programs goals are to help children build communication and socializing skills as well as basic school skills like recognizing numbers and letters. Over the years, many parents believed that early intervention has helped many children succeed; while others believed children do not benefit from the programs at all. In addition, most people thought of early intervention programs as the beginning of education (Decker & Decker, 2005). Traditionally, our society begins to educate children when they reach the age of five or six years. Many researchers and educators now suggest that as much as 80% of intellect is formed before the school years (Paulsell, Kisker, & Love 2004).B.S. (Bachelor of Science