Between research and practice: Provider perspectives on early intervention

Practitioners' personal perspectives may serve as a lens through which they reject practices that do not match their beliefs or filter the ways in which new practices are interpreted and implemented. The perspectives of 241 multiple-discipline early intervention practitioners were elicited by asking them to describe "three wishes" they would make to change early intervention so that children and families received quality services. Their statements were transcribed and categorized into six major themes: (a) work environment, (b) services, (c) teaming, (d) training, (e) center-based service models, and (f) parent participation. With few exceptions, practitioner perspectives conflicted with accepted early intervention best practices such as family-centered intervention or provision of services in natural environments.