Early Intervention
Whether a child and family have received a diagnosis of Autism, Developmental or Global Delay, Intellectual Disability, Down Syndrome, or just have concerns about their child’s behaviour due to difficult life circumstances, we all know the importance of Early Intervention.
But with so many therapies, books, trainings, influencers, opinions, and incredibly long and frustrating wait lists it can be hard to pin down exactly what Early Intervention looks like, and what you need to do to make sure your child is getting what they need.
Here at Child’s Play we follow the research closely and practice a model of Early Intervention that reflects a high-integrity, high quality, and high intensity following of the very best principles of Early Years Education. Your children teach us to be better teachers, and we treasure that privilege.
Full Inclusivity with Other Children
Children with disabilities, diagnoses, or difficulties are always included in a mainstream group of developmentally matched classmates.
Classroom Choices for Every Mood
Every classroom is built to allow choice. One of our long-term goals is that children start to recognise and understand the feelings in their bodies and choose activities that match their current level of arousal or regulation. If they are feeling tired or quiet, they can go to the sensory room or library, if they are feeling ready to learn and be challenged, they can choose shelf work, or if they are full of beans they can go to the climbing wall, ball pool, or bike around the village!
Plenty of One-to-One Time
Our recruitment policy is that all class leads are graduate-level educators, many of whom are also registered with the Teaching Council of Ireland. We maintain lower ratios than state minimums, with many support educators and inclusion teachers working as a team.
These educators follow our detailed and differentiated medium term curriculum, Reason in the Season.
Activities reflect what is happening in the child’s world and have response options for all abilities and energies of a given day.
A Positive Supportive Environment
We follow a Positive Behaviour Support system, and senior staff are trained in CALM: Crisis Aggression Limitation and Management to safely manage challenging behaviours.
Challenging behaviours can be defined as: ''those of such an intensity, frequency, or duration as to threaten the quality of life and/or the physical safety of the individual or others, and is likely to lead to responses that are restrictive, aversive, or result in exclusion''; It’s a real phenomenon, not a dirty or PC term, and our job is to support the individual to have more adaptive, safe, and socially acceptable ways of having their needs known and met.
The fact that a child’s occupation is play is so important to us, it’s the name we chose!
Pictures speak a thousand words, and we are blessed to work in a space with so many invitations or provocations to play, whatever that looks like to your child.
What we Offer:
We offer the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) to children on the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) scheme. This gives additional support in the form of mentoring, equipment, or even an additional teacher, reducing the numbers from 1:11 to 2:11 for 15 hours a week. https://aim.gov.ie/
We also offer The Department of Education’s Home Tuition and July Provision programs for children with a diagnosis of Autism. This provides a ratio of 4 Teaching Council Registered special education teachers to just 6 children for 20 hours a week and is our most effective program. https://www.gov.ie/en/service/d15f58-home-tuition/
Links to Our Other Services
Early Intervention FAQs
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What is Early Intervention, and why is it important?
Early Intervention refers to specialised support and therapies for children with developmental delays, disabilities, or behavioural concerns. It is essential because it helps children develop critical skills during their formative years, improving outcomes in communication, behaviour, and learning.
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What disabilities and conditions does Child’s Play cater to?
Child’s Play supports children with Autism, Developmental or Global Delay, Intellectual Disabilities, Down Syndrome, and other behavioural concerns due to life circumstances.
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How does Child’s Play ensure inclusion for children with disabilities?
At Child’s Play, all children are fully included in mainstream groups of developmentally matched classmates. This approach promotes social interaction, acceptance, and collaborative learning in an inclusive environment.
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What is the “Reason in the Season” curriculum?
The "Reason in the Season" curriculum is Child’s Play’s differentiated medium-term educational programme. It is designed to reflect real-world events in the child’s environment and offers activities that cater to varying energy levels and abilities.