Early Intervention Services

Address: 250 Washington Street, Bureau of Family Health and Nutrition
Boston, MA 02108 Phone: 617-624-5975 Fax: 617-624-5990 Email: Patti.Fougere@state.ma.us Website: http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/gov/departments/dph/programs/family-health/early-intervention/

The Early Intervention Program is part of the Division for Perinatal, Early Childhood, and Special Health Needs. Early Intervention provides family-centered services to help children who qualify to develop the skills they will need to continue to grow into happy and healthy members of the community. Early Intervention in Massachusetts is a statewide, integrated, developmental service available to families of children between birth and three years of age. Children may be eligible for EI if they have developmental difficulties due to identified disabilities, or if typical development is at risk due to certain birth or environmental circumstances. Children and families receive individualized services, in accordance with the functional outcomes identified in the IFSP. A range of options, including home visits, center-based individual visits, community child groups, EI-only child groups, parent groups and services of specialty providers is available to all families. Intervention is designed to include the child, staff member(s) and parent or designated caregiver. Services are provided by a professional and dedicated team, which includes the child's family. Depending on the child's needs, an EI team may also include professionals from the following disciplines: Developmental Specialist, Physical Therapy, Speech-Language Pathology, Psychology, Occupational Therapy, Social Work, Nursing and other specialty service providers. The child's medical provider is considered a valuable member of this team.