NYC Early Intervention Services
When you are concerned about your child’s development, it can be hard to know where to begin. New York Child Resource Center, Inc. provides Early Intervention services for eligible infants and toddlers through New York City’s Early Intervention Program, with licensed and certified professionals, evidence-based practices, and individualized support for each child and family.
Services may begin with an evaluation, followed by service coordination and authorized therapies or programs based on your child’s needs. New York Child Resource Center, Inc. has provided Early Intervention services since 1993, and services authorized through the Early Intervention Program are provided at no out-of-pocket cost to families.
Evaluations
Evaluations help determine whether a child is eligible for Early Intervention services. New York Child Resource Center, Inc. offers both home and center-based evaluations for children who may be experiencing developmental delays.
During an evaluation, a team of licensed and certified professionals assesses your child across key areas of development, which may include motor skills such as grasping, crawling, and walking; communication skills, including how your child understands and uses language; cognitive abilities such as problem-solving, exploring, and early learning; social and emotional development, including how your child interacts with others; and adaptive skills such as feeding, dressing, and daily routines.
Evaluations may include professionals from areas such as Special Education, Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Social Work, and Psychology. Parents and caregivers are an important part of the evaluation process, and you are encouraged to share what you observe about your child’s development at home.
In order to be found eligible for Early Intervention services, a child must be evaluated and determined to be exhibiting a developmental delay that meets eligibility criteria determined by the New York City Department of Health Early Intervention Program and New York State Department of Health Early Intervention. If a child is found eligible, services are identified through the Individualized Family Service Plan process and must be authorized by the municipality.
Service Coordination
New York Child Resource Center, Inc. offers both initial and ongoing service coordination services in English and Spanish.
Service coordinators help guide families through the Early Intervention process, from evaluation through the development of the Individualized Family Service Plan. A service coordinator can help you understand the process, answer questions, and make sure that authorized services are being provided as listed in your child’s IFSP.
Service coordinators also assist families as children approach their third birthdays, including support with the transition out of Early Intervention and planning for appropriate next steps such as preschool special education services.
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)
New York Child Resource Center, Inc. provides ABA programming for young learners on the autism spectrum. ABA services are designed around each child’s developmental needs and learning style, with individualized programs written by certified special education teachers and adjusted based on the child’s progress and collected data.
The ABA program was developed in conjunction with Rutgers University’s Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center and uses Early Intervention best practices for serving children on the autism spectrum.
Our 1:1 ABA Program
Each child in the ABA program receives individualized, one-to-one instruction based on a program written specifically for them by a certified special educator. Programs are developed after a thorough assessment of the child’s skills and needs, and are adjusted over time as the child progresses. This individualized approach allows therapists to target each child’s specific developmental goals.
ABA Group
Enhanced ABA groups are led by a certified special educator and meet in two-hour sessions, five days per week. Each child works one-to-one with a trained teacher’s assistant in their own cubby on programs tailored to their individual developmental needs.
Programs are individually written for each child by certified special education teachers based on evaluations of progress and analysis of previous data collected. Common skills emphasized in programming include requesting, eye contact, attending, fine motor skills, matching, and verbal skills.
Generalization Group
The integrated Generalization Group gives young autistic learners the opportunity to work alongside same-age typically developing peers in a classroom setting.
Group activities include art projects, sensory play, gross motor activities, seasonal curriculum, and music. These two-hour groups precede or follow the two-hour ABA group sessions, allowing children to apply skills learned from ABA discrete trials to real-life social situations in an educational and supportive environment with peer models.
Speech and Language Therapy
New York Child Resource Center, Inc. is an approved provider of home and center-based Speech Therapy through the Early Intervention Program.
Speech and language therapy helps children develop the communication skills they need to express themselves, understand others, and interact with the world around them. For infants and toddlers, this may include support with understanding spoken language, using words or gestures to communicate, producing speech sounds, developing social communication skills, or building pre-language skills such as joint attention, turn-taking, and imitation.
Sessions are tailored to each child’s developmental needs and the services authorized through the IFSP process. Our speech-language pathologists are licensed professionals with experience working with young children across a range of communication needs.
Occupational Therapy
New York Child Resource Center, Inc. is an approved provider of home and center-based Occupational Therapy through the Early Intervention Program.
For young children, the everyday activities of childhood are their most important work: playing, eating, getting dressed, exploring, and learning to interact with people and environments. Occupational therapy supports children who need help developing the skills that make these activities possible. This may include support with sensory processing, fine motor skills such as grasping and manipulating objects, gross motor coordination, feeding and oral-motor development, self-care and daily living skills, visual perception, and social participation.
Sessions are individualized based on each child’s evaluated needs and the services authorized through the IFSP process. Our occupational therapists are licensed professionals experienced in working with infants and toddlers.
Physical Therapy
New York Child Resource Center, Inc. is an approved provider of home and center-based Physical Therapy through the Early Intervention Program.
Physical therapy for infants and toddlers focuses on helping children develop the physical skills they need to move, explore, and participate in daily life. This may include support with reaching gross motor milestones such as sitting, crawling, standing, and walking; building strength, balance, and coordination; and improving mobility and movement patterns. Physical therapy can also help children who have difficulty with posture, muscle tone, or physical endurance.
Sessions are based on the child’s evaluation, eligibility, and the services authorized through the IFSP process.
Special Instruction
New York Child Resource Center, Inc. is an approved provider of home and center-based Special Instruction through the Early Intervention Program.
Special instruction helps young children build foundational skills across multiple areas of development, including cognitive, communication, adaptive, and social-emotional skills. A special instructor works with the child through structured play, developmental activities, and everyday routines to support learning and growth. Special instruction also includes working with parents and caregivers, helping them learn strategies to support their child’s development at home and in daily life.
Services are individualized based on the child’s developmental needs and the goals authorized through the IFSP process.
Social Work
New York Child Resource Center, Inc. is an approved provider of home and center-based Social Work services through the Early Intervention Program.
Social work services in Early Intervention focus on supporting the family as a whole. This may include helping families understand their child’s developmental needs, navigate the Early Intervention system, develop coping strategies, connect with community resources and support networks, and address family concerns that may affect a child’s development. Social work services recognize that supporting the family is an essential part of supporting the child.
Services are based on the child and family’s evaluated needs and the services authorized through the IFSP process.
