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Early Intervention

Ohio Early Intervention and Department of Developmental Disabilities logos
Sign up for Early Intervention

Concerned about your child’s development? Act Early!
 
If you’re concerned that a child may have a delay or disability, it’s important to refer them for Early Intervention as soon as possible. Early Intervention can address all types of concerns, like 
crawling or walkingspeech delays, or social interaction like playing with other children.
 
Early Intervention is available in every part of the state and to any eligible child, regardless of the family’s income.
Providing Early Intervention services is critical to life-long success.
There is no “down side” to referring a child for Early Intervention services. Research shows that starting services early gives a child the best chance to learn and grow. Early support can reduce the need for services later in life. In fact, it is more cost effective to provide Early Intervention than to wait until the child is older.

Every child is unique, and services are designed based on a child's specific needs. Children learn best through everyday experiences and routines in places they know, so services support families where they live, play and spend their day. Virtual options may also be available. 
 
How Early Intervention works for families?
  • Once the family is assigned to an early intervention provider, that provider will walk the family through the eligibility process and determine the next steps.
  • If a child is eligible for services, the family and service coordinator will develop a plan to support the family on their journey to help their child get their best possible start in life. 
  • Parents and families are the center of a child’s development. That’s why service coordinators and other service providers work closely with the family to help build their skills and confidence in supporting their child and to help them navigate the journey with their child.

Did you know?
Automatic eligibility for Early Intervention includes children with diagnosed hearing loss, neonatal abstinence (NAS) or neonatal opioid withdrawal syndromes (NOWS), and children with elevated blood lead levels (≥5ug/dL).
Visit Ohio Early Intervention website
Download Early Intervention brochure
Tell us your Help Me Grow story

Testimonials

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"Early Intervention and Help Me Grow were able to complete our intake quickly and connect us with other therapies to ensure our daughter had the best support as early as possible; having a huge impact on her continued growth and development!"

- Family who participated in Ohio Early Intervention
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"Early Intervention saved my child’s life. They were observant and helped find the resources to get our son a life changing/saving diagnosis. They have then been on this journey with me and have been a step ahead to find all resources to help intervene and give our son the best chance of development and success. They have cared deeply and been sensitive to our needs as parents while pushing us to also see the potential our son has to develop as typical as possible!"

- Family who participated in Ohio Early Intervention
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"Early Intervention was possibly the best thing we could have done. Neither myself nor my husband were familiar with the services and our first child did not have any developmental issues. Early Intervention was really instrumental in guiding us through certain aspects of obtaining the help our family needed. At first, we were a little uneasy about someone coming into our home, but Beth was awesome and made us and our daughter very comfortable. Not only did she help us with concerns regarding our child, she helped us "come out of our shell" a little as well."

- Family who participated in Ohio Early Intervention
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"The Early Intervention team has done a great job of meeting our family and our son, Mark, where we are. They have provided us with wonderful resources and tools to work on the priority skills needed to foster Mark’s overall growth and development. Finding ways to work on the skills he needs in ways that fit into our daily routines has been very valuable."

- Family who participated in Ohio Early Intervention
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"Help Me Grow has helped give us guidance to help our daughter develop. They helped connect us to resources that we didn’t even know we needed. Honestly, I am so thankful for this program. Our daughter has developed so much during our continued time with them."

- Family who participated in Ohio Early Intervention