As we continue to endure the COVID-19 pandemic, our children’s developmental skills can be affected. With limited opportunities to interact with other children, parents may be unsure of their child’s developmental milestones. Fortunately, New Vista offers some reassuring and valuable resources in this time of crisis. Parents who have concerns about their child’s development can call our First Steps office to participate in a free developmental screening.
Early intervention is the key to helping children achieve their highest level of success. The First Steps program at New Vista serves children from birth to age three who have a developmental delay or a condition that’s known to cause a delay.
Services are typically provided in the child’s natural environment at home, daycare or in the community. However, First Steps now offers services through tele-intervention to keep everyone safe during this pandemic. Parents can connect with us by phone, tablet or computer through Zoom. First Steps providers have been trained in a coaching model of service delivery which works extremely well with tele-intervention.
How can infants or toddlers participate in a tele-intervention session?
We do not expect an infant or toddler to pay attention to a person on a screen. While watching the parent interact with their child, the provider coaches the parents on strategies to assist their child in gaining new developmental skills.
We know many parents are overwhelmed with working from home, virtual school with older children and no childcare. New Vista service coordinators can assist parents in determining the amount of time needed for early intervention sessions. The number of visits can be adjusted to work with the family’s new schedule. Coordinators can also assist with accessing tele-intervention if they have not used this platform before. Parents who do not have the ability to do tele-intervention should still contact our office if they have concerns about their child’s development because other resources may be available to them.
First Steps includes child evaluation specialists, who conduct initial screenings; service coordinators, who help families navigate the program; and speech, physical, and occupational therapists; developmental and behavioral interventionalists; deaf and hard-of-hearing as well as visually impaired teachers, psychologists and audiologists.
If you are concerned a child under the age of three is not meeting developmental milestones, you call New Vista First Steps at 1.800.454.2764, New Vista First Steps is located at 343 Waller Avenue, Suite 201 in Lexington and at 2936 Dolphin Drive, Suite 204 in Elizabethtown. Click here to visit our First Steps page.
