A comprehensive service delivery model for preschoolers with special educational needs: Its characteristics and effectiveness.
One high-intensity preschool bundle beats scattered services across thinking, language, and motor skills.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Lam et al. (2019) built one preschool program that packed ABA, speech, OT, and motor work into one high-intensity day.
They compared this full bundle to the usual split-up services kids got around Hong Kong.
The children had different diagnoses, mostly autism or other delays, and were three to five years old.
What they found
Kids in the bundled program gained more in thinking, talking, moving, and doing things for themselves.
The scattered-services group moved ahead slower in every area they checked.
How this fits with other research
Pettingell et al. (2022) later showed the same idea works in U.S. elementary schools when principals lead well and coaches stay active.
Mahoney et al. (2004) looked like a contradiction: they saw no speed-up from different preschool teaching styles. The key difference is Gerald only swapped classroom style, while Shui-Fong added therapies across the whole day.
Ratzon et al. (2009) found that short visual-motor services worked the same whether given direct, consult, or mixed, backing the idea that how you package services can matter as much as what you give.
Why it matters
If you run a preschool program, push to fold speech, OT, and motor goals into the same intensive day instead of letting kids hop between separate rooms. One schedule, one team, bigger gains.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: The compartmentalization between early intervention services and early childhood special education programs is a worldwide phenomenon, which results in the fragmentation of services for preschoolers with special educational needs (SEN). AIMS: To address this fragmentation of services, an intervention program in Hong Kong adopted a comprehensive service delivery model with six characteristics: 1) multidisciplinary approach, 2) integration of services across different contexts, 3) multimodal intervention with direct and indirect services, 4) capacity building for systems, 5) inclusive environment, and 6) high program intensity. METHODS: The program evaluation was a quasi-experiment with a control group (n = 60) matched to the experimental group (n = 60). RESULTS: At the end of the school year, the experimental group made significant improvement in most measures including cognitive skills, receptive language skills, expressive language skills, gross-motor skills, fine-motor skills, and self-direction skills. School heads in the experimental group also agreed that the program had empowered their teachers and reinforced their school systems. CONCLUSION: Despite its exploratory nature, the study has shed light on the future directions of services for preschoolers with SEN. The comprehensive service delivery model offers a response to the fragmentation of services and reveals the importance of integration of services across different contexts with multidisciplinary approach.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2019 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2018.10.005