ABSTRACT
The ability of early intervention programmes to minimise declines in the development of very young children with disabilities has been identified, through literature and research, as a significant outcome (Guralnick 1991). This position has not been reached without a struggle, which has included a considerable debate about the efficacy of early intervention. Early developments in early intervention programmes laid their emphasis on the professional imparting skills to the parent. Many detailed programmes arose which could be used by professionals aimed at parents; for example, Portage (Shearer and Shearer 1972) and the Carolina Curriculum (Johnson-Martin et al. 1990). While Portage has its critics, others would argue that it has been a major platform on which many early intervention programmes have subsequently been developed (Cameron 1986b, Russell 1994).
