Improving Access to Early Intervention Services for Infants and Toddlers With Disabilities

Washington, D.C. (Dec. 20, 2022) – Last week, the White House Office of Management and Budget, or OMB, and the U.S. Department of Education emphasized the importance of early intervention services, or EIS, for infants and toddlers with disabilities.

The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, or OSERS, Deputy Assistant Secretary Katy Neas, OMB Associate Director for Education, Income Maintenance and Labor Sherry Lachman, and OMB Education Program Examiner Bert Wyman released a joint message on the Biden-Harris administration’s stance at promoting EIS.

Additionally, OSERS Office of Special Education Programs, or OSEP, held a webinar, Working Together to Support All Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities, to highlight “how federal agencies, state agencies, local programs, and families can work together to support infants and toddlers with disabilities’ growth and development.”

OSEP also released the first resource guides in a series of resources guides to support access to high-quality EIS for infants and toddlers with disabilities. All guides are available in English and Spanish.

The Vision and Guiding Resources guide provides an overview of the initiative. The Outreach and Family Engagement guide explains the need for outreach and family engagement in the child find process, which locates, identifies and evaluates infants and toddlers who can benefit from early intervention services.

Finally, the Monitoring, Screening and Referral guide details how health care providers and others working with infants and toddlers regularly monitor and screen children to ensure they meet specific milestones.

OSEP will make additional resources in this series available in the coming year.

Last modified on December 20, 2022