Early intervention for kids migrates online amid coronavirus

QUINCY -- When Emily Daggett's family was asked to quarantine by one of her daughter Delaney's doctors, she was worried that the 22-month-old might lose therapy services she needs.

Delaney has developmental delays and is enrolled in the state's early intervention program, which provides a constellation of services including physical and occupational therapy for children until they turn 3.

The therapies were provided by professionals at the children's homes, but because the visits would be risky during the coronavirus pandemic, they became online telehealth visits.

Daggett, of Quincy, said her worries quickly melted away. She said she was able to get services for her daughter within two weeks of being quarantined.

Want news like this sent straight to your inbox? Head over to PatriotLedger.com to sign up for alerts and make sure you never miss a thing. You pick the news you want, we deliver."In March, when we were asked to self-quarantine by one of Delaney's medical teams, I was really upset at the thought of her losing services, because age zero to 3 is so critical," Daggett said. "I'm sure it looks different in every family, but from what we had before COVID to after COVID is essentially the same thing."

Through the program, Delaney receives services such as speech, music and occupational therapy, in which a therapist works on things such as fine motor skills.

"I just hook them up on the computer, and instead of them being a little bit more hands-on with Delaney, our service providers give me the tips," Daggett said. "I just set up the computer so she can see me and Delaney. And she says, 'put your hand here, put your hand there, flip her over.' And it's very similar to what we were doing in-home, because I'm doing all of it."

Daggett has two other small children and, like other parents, has been stressed about being trapped inside. She said the therapists have been happy to be flexible as the family juggles three children trying to learn at home.

For Quincy-based Aspire Health Alliance -- the early intervention provider for Milton, Randolph and Quincy -- the coronavirus meant having to quickly upend programs for the roughly 500 families it serves.

"I think moving on a dime from in-home to telehealth was a little challenging, but we have a wonderful interdisciplinary team of professionals who really sort of embrace the idea and learn the technology and figured out ways to engage with families," said Cindy Warren, Aspire's early intervention program director.

"I think everybody finds it more fun to do it in person when we can actually sort of engage with families and children together," she said. "But in this time where we want to keep everyone safe, this is a really good way for us to support families and answer questions and support children's development."

As for what comes next, no one is sure. Warren said Aspire is waiting for guidance from the state Department of Public Health, which administers the early intervention programming, on how to proceed.

As a parent, it's a new worry for Daggett too. She said she's not sure when her family will be ready for in-home services again.

"I just hope that we still have the option to choose telehealth over in-home services depending on the larger picture of what's going on," Daggett said. "I think that we're much more cautious just because we do have our child with complex medical issues. And so I don't know when we're going to feel safe."

Joe Difazio can be reached at jdifazio@patriotledger.com.

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