The Need for Subsidized and Specialized Preschools
A child’s brain develops fastest from birth through three years of age. During these early years, there are 700 new neural connections being formed every second. Due to this rapid growth, it’s essential to provide children with stimulating experiences and activities to assist them with cognitive development.
Preschools can provide this much-needed stimulation. Since only one-in-three children have a full-time, stay-at-home parent these days, the need for quality preschools has increased. However, it’s been found that only 23.4% of children under five are actually enrolled in an organized type of daycare.
One of the reasons for this may be the cost of having one or more children that need day care. Some working families may have a new baby and need an infant day care center along with day care centers to meet the needs of their other children under five. When one or more of these children have developmental or behavioral disabilities, this can be exceptionally challenging financially as well as emotionally.
Recent United States’ figures show that there are approximately 13% of children between the ages of 3-to-17 that need specialized care due to autism and other intellectual or behavioral disabilities. Early intervention treatment services, according to ongoing research, can have a major impact on these children’s development.
Skilled intervention for children presenting with these issues can begin at birth and continue until they are three years old. After three, they would most likely be enrolled in another age-and-development–appropriate program.
Some child care centers may have staff trained in working with special needs children. While it is a good practice for these children to socialize with others their own age, it’s important that they also receive consistent attention from a skilled professional.
When teaching and guiding children with intellectual and/or behavioral disabilities, there are a variety of important skills for them to learn. Depending on the child’s specific needs, these services may include helping them learn how to talk, walk, and interact with other children.
Given the increasing need for organized early childhood development programs, as well as preschools that address children with various disabilities, there should be more funding from the public and private sectors. Government and businesses could be doing more, according to more than two-thirds of the American populace.