Last month, local families and community members gathered at the West Suburban Special Recreation Association along with partners Raising Illinois, Oak-Leyden and Child and Family Connections #7 at Suburban Access Inc. This gathering was one of the events that took place across the state of Illinois intended to bring awareness to a chronically overlooked topic: the Early Intervention crisis.
Early Intervention (often called EI), is the term for specialized supports for babies up to age 3, such as speech and language therapy, developmental therapy, occupational and physical therapies, and social work services. Early Intervention is extremely effective and cost efficient: 1 in 3 children who receive EI do not later present with a disability or require special education in preschool, thus reducing the needs of these kiddos later in life and helping them reach their full potential from the start.
One caregiver in the audience shared a little bit about how helpful Early Intervention has been for her child: “As a family, we don’t know what she needs. It was all the therapists that … got us all the equipment that she needs. She’s not there yet, but she would be even further behind.”
Approximately 16-18% of children have a developmental delay or disability, and the most impactful time in a child’s development is the first three years of life. These are services that families are legally entitled to, and yet many families are not receiving them.
The Illinois Early Intervention system serves 28,000 infants and toddlers, but 9% of children who need EI services are stuck on waitlists, often for years, which means a child will have aged out of being eligible by the time they’ve gotten off the waitlist. This isn’t just a statistic; it’s about real children and real families in our communities who are struggling right now.
Why is this happening? Because the EI workforce is leaving in droves, by 500 providers a year. They are not being adequately compensated for their essential services. With very few pay increases in the last 25 years, providers literally can’t afford to do this work even though they want to. Fewer providers make for longer waitlists. Some families can turn to private therapies, but for so many the cost of private services is not within reach, exacerbating inequalities across the system.
This is unacceptable. Please join me in calling on the state to increase funding for EI in the 2025 budget. Sign the petition at https://www.raisingillinois.org. Early Intervention is not just a program; it’s also a promise. A promise to our children that we’ll give them every opportunity to thrive. EI is a promise to families that they won’t have to face developmental challenges alone, and it’s a promise to our community that we’re investing in a brighter future for all of us.
Mary Reynolds is executive director of the Collaboration for Early Childhood in Oak Park.