The Triadic Approach: Collaborative Services to Support Young Children and Their Families in Person and through Telepractice

Early childhood educators teach children with a variety of ability levels. Children ages birth to five who exhibit characteristics of a developmental delay, disability, or a health condition that may affect typical development and learning may receive early intervention (EI) services as detailed by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). IDEA has a provision for services for young children from birth until their third birthday in Part C (IDEA, 2004). Under Part C, interagency partners conduct developmental assessments and provide services to children younger than three years old who have developmental delays and/or complex chronic conditions. The Division for Early Childhood (DEC) of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) recommends educators and practitioners use family-centered, collaborative, culturally responsive, and capacity-building practices (DEC, 2014). One such family-centered model supported in EI is the triadic approach (Brown & Woods, 2016). The purpose of this article is to bridge the research to practice gap by providing a guide on how to implement the triadic approach in EI, with special considerations for telepractice.