“All children should get the support they need” – ETR

José Smits is part of the team of Inclusion Europe.
She is also the founder of Inclusion Europe’s Dutch member
Inclusie Nederland.

Some time ago José was invited
to a conference in Leipzig, in Germany.

There she talked about early intervention
and how important it is.

Why do we need early intervention?

Early intervention
is very good for children with disabilities.

With early intervention, children with disabilities have:

• easier access to the same schools
  as other children go to
• more chances to find a good job
• better relationships
• better health.

Parents feel happier
because they receive the support they need
to give their child a good life.

Inclusion Europe wants governments
to give free and good early intervention
to all the children who need it.

This is a right that we can also find
in the UN CRPD.

What José talked about
at the conference in Germany

There are only a few countries in Europe
where the government pushes
to get good early intervention.

Early intervention is often
not planned well enough.

Also, many countries are not giving enough money
for early intervention
and to support people with disabilities.

There are documents that talk about
early intervention
and inclusive education
in different European countries.

Countries like Italy, England or Portugal
have good early intervention.

In these countries,
early intervention is mostly done
with the family at home
and not in institutions.

Countries like France, the Netherlands and Belgium
have good support that is not expensive.

But the problem is that
to get this support
people need to go to an institution.

There are also countries
where only rich parents
can get the support they need.
For example, this happens in Greece.

At Inclusion Europe
we will continue to ask
for better early intervention.

Every child is important
and should get the support they need to grow up.