A National Early Intervention System as a Strategy to Promote Inclusion and Academic Achievement in Portugal

摘要

Early intervention with children at risk or facing developmental problems is a practicedefined by three fundamental characteristics: being family-centered, being based onthe community and on the child’s life context, and being conducted by a teamwith transdisciplinary practice. In this paper we wish to present how the SNIPINationalSystem of Early Intervention, implemented in Portugal over the past 15 years,contributes to promote maximum development and the full inclusion of children up to6 years of age and works to prevent school failure. The SNIPI covers the entire territoryand intends to respond to the needs of children with developmental disorders or those inat risk situations. This community-based early intervention model is linked to the health,education and social care systems, involving the three responsible Ministries. In thepresent community case study, we present the implementation of this program in theAlentejo region, involving 31 local teams and almost 2500 children. Through the regionalstructure’s reports and the responses of parents and professionals in impact studies,we demonstrate how the system is established and how it tackles school failure andimproves the educational inclusion of these children. The impact of this Early Interventionmodel has been significant not only on children’s developmental outcomes, but alsofor the health, education and social care professionals who work in a transdisciplinaryperspective, as well as for the families who became more skilled at evaluating thechildren’s needs and the support provided. This approach to implementing a familycenteredEarly Intervention program can contribute to full inclusion. It facilitates thetransition to schooling based on a non-discriminatory approach and educationalachievement by aiding development and an adapted contextualization in pre-schooleducation. This program system introduces significant innovation within the frameworkof existing educational policies that promote development and inclusion, and hastherefore earned the interest of the scientific community and policy-makers alike. Ithas been possible to implement some of principles already studied but it had neverbeen tested. The Early Intervention program in Alentejo, as part of the SNIPI, can be anexample of good practices, with its own characteristics that allowed to create a networkof integrated and comprehensive responses to the needs of the population in this region.