A Systemic Approach to Infant Intervention

Abstract

A systemic model for conceptualizing, designing, implementing, and evaluating intervention trials is described. The major intervention goal is the facilitation of conventionalized interactive competencies that reflect a shift in balance of power toward the developing child. The model includes seven components: a developmental progression of interactive competencies, a paradigmatic framework for specifying tht variables associated with developmental change, a framework for categorizing the targets of intervention, an assessment strategy for mapping a child's topography of interactive competencies, intervention procedures for fostering the acquisition of behavior targets, a framework for teaching targets that are both functional and taught within the context of daily routines, and a set of evaluation procedures for assessing the efficacy of the intervention procedures.