ECIS
At the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services in Texas, there is a program called Early Childhood Intervention. ECI is describe on the department's website as being a program that encompasses the entire state, presumably from El Paso to Texarkana, and the beneficiaries of the program are disabled children and their families (ECIS, 2013). The program is administered by the state, but funding is a combination of state and federal funding. The mission statement of the organization reflects the value that children who face development challenges should have the resources to provide support and help give them a chance to perform to their objectives in life (ECIS, 2013).
The mandate of the department comes from the Individuals with Disabilities Act ((ECIS, 2013). The first role that the department does is that it will visit a family and assess whether the child has a disability or not (ECIS, 2013). This happens when a person makes a referral, or in some way alerts the agency to the possibility that there is a child with a disability who could use their service. Most of the work that ECI conducts is at the family site, in order to provide the best natural environment for the child (ECIS, 2013)....
The agency notes on its website that these early years are critical for child development, and this is why their role is so important because it can improve child outcomes dramatically, if such early intervention is conducted (ECIS, 2013).
The ECI came into existence in the 1970s. It basically started with a little bit of activism, where parents brought their children with disabilities to Austin to the legislature (ECIS, 2013). This put the issue in front of the government and in 1981 the agency was created to enrich the lives of disabled children. The program took further steps in its own development in the 1990s, including the formation of a governance committee (ECIS, 2013). The final development was a merger of a number of different departments relating to childhood health to form the single department that exists today. This took place in 2004 (ECIS, 2013).
For members of the general public, there are two outcomes as the result of this agency. For those who are directly affected, which is to say those with disabled children, the department provides a variety of services. Each child is different, so the services are different, but they involve various combinations of training, health…
