Introduction to the Special Issue: A New Era for Remote Early Intervention and Assessment

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic illuminated a challenge in early intervention that the field has struggled for decades to adequately address: How do we implement evidence-based practices remotely while maintaining fidelity for the vast array of early intervention services? This is the core question that investigators sought to address in this Special Issue of the Journal of Early Intervention. Over the last quarter century, the internet and associated technology has transformed key parts of our daily lives, including how we communicate, shop, bank, and share data. Despite extensive funding from both public and private sectors that has generated innovative tools and approaches to deliver remote early intervention, few have reached scale. This has resulted in little change from traditional face-to-face intervention delivery relative to the sweeping changes seen in other sectors, until the Spring of 2020 when most of the world was faced with using unproven methods to deliver intervention and assessments remotely. In this introduction to the special issue, we provide a brief overview of the current need for effective practices to support remote early intervention and early childhood special education services, lessons learned from past education technology research, and an overview of the studies reported in the special issue.