Disparities in Early Intervention Utilization in Minority Children

Only 25% of eligible children utilize early intervention (EI) services for treatment of developmental delay, and rates are even lower for African-American and Hispanic children. To explore reasons for these disparities, investigators performed in-depth interviews on developmental delay and EI services with 22 low-income African-American and Hispanic mothers of children aged ≤3 years who screened positive for developmental delay in primary care.

Thematic analysis of interviews revealed five themes: 1) maternal observations comparing their child's development to other children's as a strong motivator for EI engagement; 2) maternal beliefs that each child develops at his or her own pace and would catch up rather than need therapy; 3) reliance o…