A discussion of early intervention services from the perspective of the philosophy of family nursing

About ten years ago in Taiwan, the government initiated early intervention for development-delayed children. For the purpose of early detection of latent cases and providing early intervention at the prime time for children, nurses are involved in the service, and their main contribution is in the screening procedure. Early intervention emphasizes the family-centered approach, the philosophy of which is the same as that of family nursing. With similar concerns as its axis, this article discusses the meaning and essential concepts or elements of early intervention practice, including the family assessment and individual family service plan (IFSP), home-based early intervention, family support, parent participation, parent education, etc. The hope is to improve nurses' understanding in order to enable them to bring into play a greater range of role functions when they participate in early intervention services in the future.