PEABODY — After the coronavirus hit, Amy McCord feared a major disruption in how her daughter received early-intervention services until Northeast Arc stepped up to provide a “telehealth model” to help McCord and other caregivers.
Northeast Arc has a proven track record in delivering a variety of early-intervention (EI) services that provide support to families and caregivers.
Since the services were typically provided in the home, the sudden switch to a completely telehealth model was challenging. But the results have been favorable.
Northeast Arc’s highly-skilled professional Early Interventionists, including speech-language pathologists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, and developmental therapists, jumped into action to make the switch easier for McCord and other parents.
“At first, I was unsure how the switch to telehealth would work out,” said McCord, a Peabody resident, whose daughter Emily receives EI services from Northeast Arc. “But my experience has been great and working out even better than our previous schedule. This setup makes me 100 percent hands-on with generous input from the therapists over video, so we are getting more out of our sessions and it is easier to replicate those activities on other days.
“I’m so glad Northeast Arc was able to adapt quickly and continue to support us at home during this disruptive time,” she said.
Northeast Arc, a provider of EI services to families in 20 communities from Lynn to Rockport, needed only 72 hours to transition to a telehealth model after the state issued the coronavirus precaution stay-at-home advisory in March.
“Everything we were doing when we were in people’s living rooms, we are doing through telehealth (Zoom),” said Anne Dolan, EI director for Northeast Arc. “It has proven to be very effective.”
In Massachusetts, any child can have an evaluation to determine if they need Early Intervention. Early Intervention is available for families with children who meet certain eligibility criteria including: delays in achieving developmental milestones such as walking, talking, or interacting with others; having a developmental disability such as hearing loss, autism, or Down Syndrome; or the presence of environmental or medical circumstances such as prematurity or homelessness that have potential impacts upon child development.
“The best time to impact the brain is as it is developing,” Dolan said of providing EI to children at such an early age. “If you wait, kids fall farther behind and it is harder for them to catch up. Then they get frustrated and tend to give up.”
Two hallmarks of the EI program are that families do not need a referral from their pediatrician and they can receive services regardless of whether they have health insurance. That notwithstanding, the number of children entering the program has decreased significantly since the start of the pandemic, from an average of 80-85 a month to about 20.
“We want to make sure parents know that our services are ongoing,” Dolan said. “We don’t want kids to miss out. Our therapists and staff have worked extremely hard to ensure there has been no interruption, and we are ready to serve children and families that need us.”
For more information about Early Intervention, visit ne-arc.org/services/early-intervention or call 978-522-5417.
