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State of Early Intervention: California

Every year, we as a nation fail to identify 1.45 million young children at risk for developmental delays or disabilities—children who will enter school already far behind other kids their age. But with the right treatment and therapy before the age of five, we can change the state of early intervention for thousands of kids in California.

Through Make the First Five Count, Easter Seals is raising awareness and activating the American public to demand that all young children get the support they need before the age of five. Make life better for children in your community—those at risk for autism, developmental delays and other disabilities—and help us achieve $100 million in additional federal funding for Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This is the federal program that provides critical services to infants and toddlers with disabilities and to their families.

The State of Funding

Today, it's harder than ever for families to access care, because essential programs to treat young children with disabilities are chronically underfunded and in danger of being scaled back even further this year and in 2012.

Through Make the First Five Count, Easter Seals is calling on Congress to protect and grow funding for Part C by $100 million, for a total of $539 million, in the years to come.

  • Federal funding: Currently, California receives $53.6 million from the federal government to support early intervention services under Part C. This is a moderate increase of $87,000 from the previous year.
  • State funding: California allocates $14.2 million in funding for early intervention. This remained unchanged from 2010 to 2011.

Investing in early diagnosis and treatment now will save in future care costs—there is no better investment than in our children.

The Numbers in California
  • There are 1,672,411 kids in California ages 0-3.
  • On average, fewer than 20% of young children are properly screened to identify their special need, or approximately 334,482 California children.
  • In California, 217,413 kids under the age of 3 are at risk of developmental delays or disabilities that will set them back when they start school, yet only 38,338 are currently receiving early intervention services through Part C of IDEA.

Sources:
http://www.ideadata.org/tables34th/AR_C-2.xls 0-3
http://mchb.hrsa.gov/nsch/07main/moreinfo/pdf/nsch07child.pdf
http://www.ideadata.org/PartCChildCount.asp
http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/statetables/12stbyprogram.pdf
State funding information provided by a state government official is available upon request.

Lili, age 4

Easter Seals Bay Area

Liliana (Lili) and her twin brother, Grayden, were born in 2007. Before Lili's second birthday, her parents noticed Liliana wasn't meeting certain development benchmarks for her age. She was non-verbal and lacked communication skills. Lili's pediatrician suggested that her parents have her checked by specialists, and it was confirmed that she had an autism spectrum disorder.

Lili and her family started with Easter Seals Bay Area in October 2009 as part of the East Bay Early Intervention Autism Project. Lili's Mom cannot say enough good things about her therapists: "Melissa [Mello] and Amy [Hylton] are part of the family. They work with us 20+ hours a week. When Melissa and Amy arrive, Lili cannot wait to see them. They provide a team approach—sharing information with Lili's occupational and speech therapists. Everyone is on the same page. Lili's progress is tremendous— she is a completely different child."

Ricky, age 9

When Ricky was two, he had a traumatic neurological experience and was diagnosed with acute post-infectious cerebellar ataxia. He underwent physical and occupational therapy to regain his motor skills. However, due to lesions in his brain, Ricky has not regained most of his verbal skills. The Easter Seals Kaleidoscope program offers Ricky the chance to learn and play, in a place where he is encouraged to be himself!

Finley, age 3

After receiving Inclusive Child Care with an early interventionist, Finley has made significant progress both physically and verbally. When she started with the program, she could only "scoot" across the floor. Now she's speed walking!

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