What is developmental intervention (DI)?

If you haven’t heard of developmental intervention (DI) before or don’t understand what it is, you aren’t alone! Some therapies are self-explanatory. Speech-language therapy focuses on a child’s communication and language development. Some therapies you’ve heard of, but might not know how they relate to early childhood. You’ve probably heard of occupational therapy (OT) but might not know that a young child can benefit from OT for sensory regulation or motor coordination. Speech-language, occupational, physical, and behavioral therapy focus primarily on one aspect of a child’s development.

Developmental intervention (DI), however, focuses on all developmental domains (communication, social-emotional, self-help, motor, and cognition) and the child’s ability to learn through play and social interactions. Intervention is embedded into play experiences and everyday routines that challenge children to master new skills. It’s also about identifying and changing caregivers’ behaviors that impact a child (such as the tone of voice or words a parent uses to give directions).

The the untrained eye a DI session looks like play. And it is. But it is intentional and purposeful play that challenges a child so they can learn new skills. The interventionist teaches caregivers how to read child cues and figure out what kind of support the child needs to learn new skills. The end goal is that parents learn new ways to support their child’s development when the therapist leaves.