research in practice welcomes Graham Allen’s report Early Intervention: The Next Steps and its emphasis on the use of evidence-based programmes with children aged 0-3. It is at this stage of a child’s development that effective intervention can have the greatest effect in providing vulnerable children with the ‘social and emotional bedrock’ that all children need in order to develop and achieve.
Many of the key themes in Allen’s report echo the messages in our recently published Safeguarding research review (Barlow and Scott 2010). This provides research evidence and practice guidance on many of the core issues that Allen addresses, such as the impact of maltreatment on early brain development, the importance of evidence-based assessment with 0-3s, and effective intervention and practice approaches with both parents and very young children.
Other resources to support work in this field include our new frontline briefing on child development (Donnellan 2010). An evidence-based child development chart is downloadable in leaflet and poster format - an essential reference tool for staff in any professional discipline working with young children.
We are also aware of the acute need for evidence-informed resources for developing services and frontline practice with children and young people beyond the early years. Our next online publication will be Prompt topic briefing 8 on Risk taking adolescents and child protection which will be available from February. These are just a few examples of the substantial range of resources we have that will support early intervention service development and practice
Early Intervention Report Jan 2011 (799.05 kB)
Also see Jackie Barnes' article, From evidence-base to practice: implementation of the Nurse Family Partnership programme in England, which proposes that Family Nurse Partnerships should be made available to all vulnerable first time mothers who meet the criteria and want it. This article is available from the Journal of Children's Service, free of charge.
