Family and therapist perception of child evolution in an interdisciplinary approach on early intervention

ABSTRACT Purpose: to analyze and to compare parents and therapists perceptions regarding of early intervention effects in developing of their children, as well as child's development and future outlook. Methods: this research studied nine individuals from Early Intervention Clinic. Parents and responsible were interviewed. They were recorded and literately transcribed. The information was analyzed qualitatively and confronted considering the following child development aspects: linguistic, motor, social and psychic. Results: seven out of nine individuals analyzed showed similar parental and therapeutic perception concerning the development characteristics analyzed. In two cases, there was disagreement between family members and therapists regarding children development, when family members expressed different expectations from the therapists about the future of their child. Regarding communication advances, all parents and therapist realized improvements. Conclusions: the perception of therapists and parents demonstrated positive effects of interdisciplinary early intervention as manifested in the concordance between therapists and parents views in seven out of nine individuals analyzed. This study also reinforced the importance of conducting a qualified monitoring of family difficulties regarding to limitation of their children and guide them appropriately depending on the disease or disorder presented.