On the early help to the children and their families

In the past 40 years, assistance to children — aged from newborn to 3 years old with developmental disabilities, limitations of life activity or having a risk of developing disorders — is actively developing. Such technology of assisting small children and their families is called «early intervention». For more than 25 years, support for families and small children under programs of early intervention has been introduced in Russia. In our country, the term «early help» is used to describe this type of assistance. Basic definitions used to describe the technology, the methodological foundations and principles of early assistance, the organizational basis for the implementation of early assistance are considered in this article.