Growing together: from grassroots initiatives to national strategies in early-childhood intervention - EASPD conference April 2016 in Chisinau, Moldova
The European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD) in cooperation with the Alliance of Organisations for People with Disabilities from Moldova (AOPD) and with the support of EurlyAid, Zero Project, Inclusion Europe, Unicef Moldova and SOIR Moldova is organising, the 21st-22nd April 2016, an international conference in Chisinau, Moldova on the state of play of early childhood intervention in Europe.
The early childhood period is considered to be the most important developmental phase which determines the well-being, quality of health, learning and social-emotional behaviour across the life span. Extensive research has shown that high quality early childhood intervention (ECI) services can change a child’s developmental trajectory and improve outcomes for children, families, and communities at large. At the same time, ECI is likely to be more effective and less costly for national governments when it is provided at an earlier stage than later on in the lifetime.
In order to comply with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities, national governments have the obligation to develop and put in place age-appropriate support for children with disabilities to enable their full enjoyment of rights on an equal basis with other children.
Developing quality community-based ECI services requires a variety of elements: policies that support the set-up of sustainable ECI programmes and services at local, regional and national level; well-trained professionals; innovative services and therapies rooted in biomedical and behaviour research; family-focused support, so on and so forth.
