Early childhood developmental disabilities and intervention in language, communication and social relationships

Abstract

The ecological perspective of child development is receiving increasing attention from researchers and interventionists in recent times. Such a perspective of child development “...involves the scintific study of the progressive, mutual accomodation between an active, growing human being and the changing properties of the immediate settings in which the devloping person lives, as this process is affected by relations between these settings and by the larger contexts in which these stteings are embedded.” (Bronfenbrennar 1979, p.21) These important issues arise from this viewpoint and have iomplication in terms of intervention strategies. First, the child is viewed as a growing and active organism who progressivley enters into and restructures his environment. Secondly, there exists a reciprocal interaction between the person and the environment. Thirdly, the developmental importance of the environment is not restricted to a single setting, but encompasses interconnections between settings as well as in the larger ecological environment (Bronfenbrenner, 1974, 1979).