Early intervention programs: characterization of institutions and professionals

Abstract

The terms early intervention, early stimulation and essential stimulation have been historically discussed and, although similar, reflect in different performance practices. With regard to early intervention (EI) programs, these aim to provide accompaniment not only to children with developmental disorders, but also to the family and the context in which they are inserted. In this sense, it was intended with this study to characterize the institutions that provide EI services in the city of Curitiba-PR and the professionals working in these services. The sample consisted of 19 institutional representatives and 142 professionals. The institutions of the 3rd sector predominated, which work in educational area and with a multidisciplinary team. As for the population served, the clientele with multiple disabilities and intellectual disability prevailed. Prevailed professors with specialization that works over 10 years in EI programs and the teams were classified as multidisciplinary. From the results it was concluded that the prevalence of third sector institutions and the education area may be linked to historical aspects such as welfare and national education policies. The interdisciplinarity between health and education sectors still’s a conceptual, methodological and practical challenge, requiring greater dissemination and understanding of its guidelines and functioning. Knowing the characterization of institutions and their professionals is fundamental to understand the challenges that are posed to serving the clientele in question, and it is necessary to expand these services in general and the access to them.