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1 - Early Childhood Intervention: A Continuing Evolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2011

Samuel J. Meisels
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
Jack P. Shonkoff
Affiliation:
Brandeis University
Jack P. Shonkoff
Affiliation:
Brandeis University, Massachusetts
Samuel J. Meisels
Affiliation:
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Edward F. Zigler
Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
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Summary

Children are the touchstone of a healthy and sustainable society. How a culture or society treats its youngest members has a significant influence on how it will grow, prosper, and be viewed by others. In the words of the Carnegie Corporation's 1996 report, entitled Starting Points: Meeting the Needs of Our Youngest Children, it is these children

whose boundless energy is matched only by their curiosity and creativity, whose agility is the envy of their parents and teachers, [and] whose openness and expressiveness are always remarkable and occasionally breathtaking. Watching them, it is easy to believe that they can do anything they want to do, be anyone they want to be; it is easy to summon the optimism that yet a new generation is rising to fuel this nation's historical belief in endless possibility. (p. 3)

Nevertheless, not all children are born healthy; not all children have access to good nutrition, adequate health care, and acceptable housing; not all children are raised by parents who can comfort, nurture, and challenge them appropriately; and not all children are born free of disabilities or other biological vulnerabilities. It is the mission of early childhood intervention to help young children and their families to thrive. The fundamental challenge that faces early intervention services is to merge the knowledge and insights of scholars and practitioners with the creative talents of those who design and implement social policy initiatives and to invest the products of this alliance in the future of our children and thereby in the well-being of our society as a whole.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2000

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