Though Canada does not have a national strategy for early intervention in families, each province is developing approaches that support the optimal development of children and their families.

• Early intervention services must be responsive to families with diverse beliefs, priorities, and needs.

• Clear legislation and funding for early intervention and inclusive services at the provincial level are needed.
• A greater representation of professional bodies in educational decision-making at the provincial level is needed.
• Canada needs to have a national agenda for early intervention.

In this paper, the authors examine the various policies and early intervention services available for children with disabilities and their families in Canada. The authors use the Developmental Systems Approach, a practice that focuses on the development of the child and on the family as a whole, to identify common components of early childhood policies and programs that help children with disabilities and their families.

Provinces across Canada have different ways in which children and their families are screened and referred for early intervention services. These screening strategies include early childhood educators in childcare and family support programs, nurses screening infants during postnatal home visits, and physicians screening children at the time of immunizations. Many provinces such as Ontario and Alberta have comprehensive systems in place for screening, assessing, and referring children who need early interventions.

Most early intervention services support families that have an underlying risk factor such as living in low income neighbourhoods or other stressors. The Community Action Program for Children is one of the few federally funded early intervention programs that support programs for families whose children are at risk of developmental delay. Some provinces have established networks to ensure that families benefit from a comprehensive, integrated system of early childhood education and care services, including early intervention.

Many provinces rely on school-based programs such as kindergarten to provide universal access to early years programs. Although integrating early childhood supports with school-based programs helps address the issue of transitions between systems, the need exists to monitor and evaluate outcomes to determine whether or not services are effective.