Tertiary prevention is aimed at reducing the effects of a condition or disorder. Special education helps children with disabilities acquire the skills necessary to live independently and productively. Intervention involves discovering problems in children's development and beginning to treat those problems as soon as they are discovered. Intervention may include teaching children language and social skills, supporting motor and sensory development, or teaching a child's parents and caregivers strategies to foster optimal development. Provision of appropriate health care is also an important early intervention.
Families are important because they are children's first teachers.
Families provide the social and emotional context for early development and are a critical bridge between children and the larger environment. Supporting families' participation in their children's development is critical to prevention and intervention. Some are at risk of psychosomatic illnesses, depression, suicide, or violence against others. Research is needed on ways to prevent the physical and emotional damage that is happening to the nation's children and youth. A strength of the Kenneth Center's program of research is the close relation between the studies of basic processes in social and emotional development and prevention and intervention studies.