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Welcome to the Early Support area of the Every Child Matters website
Early Support was developed by parents, carers and practitioners. It's a national programme that is being introduced and used in LAs, hospitals and community-based health services across England to ensure families and carers with disabled children are kept at the heart of discussion and decision-making about their child.
Go to our news page for the latest information on developments related to Early Support.
What is Early Support?
The Early Support programme is managed by the DCSF, and was developed in response to the Government guidance Together from the start. Early Support is now part of the wider Aiming High for Disabled Children programme which is transforming services for disabled children across England.
Who is Early Support for?
Early Support is for families with disabled children under five and anyone who regularly works with them. There is a wide range of people using Early Support, including;
- families with young babies leaving hospital with medical and support needs
- older children where the need for extra help becomes clear only in the second or third year of life
- children who have obvious and multiple significant factors affecting development and learning
- children who have less obvious difficulties.
What does Early Support offer?
Early Support provides families, practitioners and key workers with information, guidance and resources to ensure the best support for disabled children. For more information, browse this section or find out more about Early Support in practice, materials and resources and training..
'Getting everyone, families and professionals, working effectively together at the earliest opportunity is vital for parents with a young disabled child – that’s the key strength of the Early Support programme.'
The Rt Hon. Gordon Brown, Prime Minister
What families say about Early Support
Read about What families say about Early Support and what their experiences of using the services and key workers have been.
'Having someone to walk that difficult journey with us has made such a difference.'
Parent
What practitioners say about Early Support
Many practitioners have said that Early Support allows them to work as they really want to – in partnership with parents and with colleagues in other agencies.
You can read more about What practitioners say about Early Support.
Videos
A full list of Early Support videos can be viewed on the Videos page.
Associated documents
Together from the start
(301.3Kb)
Download the contents of this page:
as a Word Document
Last updated on 30/03/2010
