Early Intervention Program Holds Its Graduation At Sedillo Park

Mountain Mail Reports

SOCORRO -- There were a lot of smiling faces on kids and parents a like as 27 3-year-olds graduated Friday night at Sedillo Park.
The 3-year-olds and their families had taken part in Socorro County’s Early Childhood Evaluation Program (ECEP) provides evaluations for children ages birth to three living in New Mexico. ECEP addresses concerns regarding developmental delay, complex medical conditions, autism spectrum disorders, cerebral palsy, behavioral/regulatory issues, and other specialized evaluation questions for very young children.
“Our program is funded through the State Health Department and we provide early intervention services for children, who have disabilities or are at risk for those kinds of things,” said Kent Howell, the early intervention coordinator. “The earlier you start with kids, the better the chance they will be more successful when they get to school. That is what we are all about.”
For more than 20 years, ECEP has collaborated with families and community providers statewide to evaluate children ages birth to three with complex developmental and/or medical issues. In addition our evaluation service, ECEP provides support and technical assistance to the NM FIT Early Intervention (EI) providers.
An evaluation service is available statewide and uses a team approach to address concerns related to developmental delay, complex medical conditions, autism spectrum disorders, cerebral palsy, behavioral/regulatory issues, and other specialized evaluation questions for children ages birth to three.
“We work with the kids and their families in therapy,” Howell said. “A lot of it is play therapy. We have occupational therapists, nurses and nutritional specialists. A lot of it is in-home services with the families. We give parents direction and give them the best practices to help their kids defelop or catch up in whatever they skills they want.”
Socorro County’s program includes children from Alamo, Magdalena and Veguita.
“This is the second biggest county in the state so we do a lot of driving,” Howell said. “We also share specialists with Home Health.”
But Friday night, it was all about the newest graduates.
“Every year, we have a graduation,” Howell said. “We give our certificates to award kids who will be transitioning into the school system.
Not only did the children receive their certificates, there also was a cookout and some cake.
“It’s a family get-together and we celebrate the children that are moving on,” Howell said.

Early Intervention Program Holds Its Graduation At Sedillo Park