Barriers to treatment for children with developmental delays

PolicyLab’s Manny Jimenez and colleagues published a study in Academic Pediatrics identifying the factors that prevent children with developmental delays from actually receiving early intervention (EI) services. Through interviews with parents and EI staff, the researchers found several barriers to service receipt, including poor communication between pediatricians and parents, parents' perception of their child's development, and obstacles to completing the EI referral process. Effective parent-pediatrician communication and pediatrician familiarity with the EI referral process is likely to increase the number of children who receive needed developmental services.