Disability Scoop

Accessing early intervention services like speech, occupational, physical or behavioral therapy in the first years of life can lead to more than developmental gains, new research suggests. Children who receive early intervention by age 3 score better in English language arts and are more likely to meet academic standards in math and English in third grade, according to a first-of-its-kind study published in the journal JAMA Network Open. For the study, researchers looked at public health and education records for more than 214,000 kids born in New York City between 1994 and 1998. They compared standardized test scores from third grade for the roughly 13,000 children who received early intervention to the others who did not. Accessing early intervention services like speech, occupational, physical or behavioral therapy in the first years of life can lead to more than developmental gains, new research suggests.

Among children who had special education services at school, those who received early intervention as youngsters were 28% more likely to meet grade level standards in third grade for English language arts and 17% more likely to meet that benchmark in math.

Limited free articles, then requires subscription.