Making decisions about service delivery in early childhood programs
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Assessing Dyslexia at Six Year of Age
Published on: May 1, 2020
Jane Case-Smith1, Terri Holland
1Division of Occupational Therapy, School of Allied Medical Professions, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA. Jane.Case-Smith@osumc.edu
Purpose:
This article presents a rationale for specialized services personnel to use fluid models of service delivery and explains how specialized services personnel make decisions about the blend of service delivery methods that will best serve a child.
Method:
The literature on occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech-language pathology service delivery in early childhood programs is reviewed, synthesized, and applied to current practice. The literature explains that direct and consultative services provide unique benefits to children and should be flexibly scheduled based on each child's current priorities. Flexible service delivery models allow therapists to meet the evolving needs of children within dynamic environments.
Conclusion:
To establish fluid service delivery models, therapists need to (a) plan collaboratively with teachers so that the model selected meets the teacher's preferences, (b) design flexible scheduling systems that emphasize inclusive practice, and (c) maintain precise documentation about when and how services are provided.
Related Concept Videos
Specialized Care Centers and Settings-I
Daycare centers
They provide several functions. Some facilities care for healthy newborns and children whose parents work, while others are medically focused and care for...
Decision Making
Automatic decision-making is fast, intuitive, and relies on gut feelings...
Nursing Interventions II: Selecting and Classifying the Nursing Interventions
Ethical Dilemmas I
Let us explore some examples to understand the potentially complex moral decisions nurses face.
Take the case of caring for minors, particularly in areas related to reproductive...
Ethical Dilemmas II
Decision Making: Traditional Method
First, a specific claim about the population parameter is decided based on the research question and is stated in a simple form. Further, an opposing statement to this claim is also stated. These statements can act as null and alternative hypotheses, out of which a null hypothesis would be a...
