They go as follows: .
To support families in achieving their own goals.
To promote child engagement, independence, and mastery.
To promote development in key domains (e.g., motor, cognition, communication, daily living, and social).
To build and support children's social competence.
To promote the generalized use of skills.
To provide and prepare for normalized life experiences.
To prevent the emergence of future problems or disabilities.
These goals apply to all students with severe disabilities, and they are what make up the structure of the intervention programs.
There are several components in the structure of teaching young children. One component is the transitional approach. This type of approach focuses to promote development within the context of interactions with caregivers and the environment. Interventions that are based on a transactional perspective are concerned only with the attainment of developmental skills; they also view the achievement of developmental milestones in the broader context of the behavior, beliefs, and values of all the players in the system (Sameroff & Fiese, 1990). The next type of approach is instructional activities. Although active engagement is a goal of early intervention, young children, especially young children who may have medical concerns or multiple disabilities, have very low thresholds for continual engagement. Activities that are designed for young children must be brief and based on the child's interest. The early interventionist must be able to embed instruction in playful child-motivating activities that can be applied throughout the day by a variety of caregivers. The next approach is instructional content. This focus of infant intervention program is to teach an infant to mediate his behavior states, basic motor movements, and contingent responsiveness. The goals are developmentally based, although an emphasis is placed on teaching the skills in meaningful routines in the same way that we teach older individuals with severe disabilities.
