ABSTRACT
Early intervention is a term generally used to describe supports and services provided to young children birth to age 5 with or at risk for delays or disabilities and their families. Early theoretical and empirical infl uences date back centuries, but most accounts of the fi eld acknowledge its emergence in the 1960s and its interdisciplinary roots in general early childhood education, compensatory education, special education for school-age children, maternal and child health services, psychology, and child development (e.g., Allen & Cowdery, 2009; McCormick, 2006).
