An analysis of early intervention expenditures in Massachusetts

Early intervention expenditure data from Massachusetts were linked to service data on a 157-member sample of Massachusetts early intervention service recipients. The findings revealed an enormous variability in the total expenditure per child estimate. Regression analyses identified specific child, family, and program characteristics that were significant predictors of the hours of service received. These results were then used to estimate expected hours of service and per child expenditures for eight subgroups. Variations in total expenditures by subgroup reflected differences in the distribution of service hours by service type. The implications of these findings for the implementation of Part H of P.L. 99-457 were discussed.