Early attention

What do families have to do?

Information and guidance document for families

1) Request for assessment of the need for early care

When public health professionals or authorized professionals of the Educational Guidance Network detect that the minor has a developmental disorder or is at risk of suffering from it, refer him to the field of social services through the Single Early Care Registry.

Once the referral is madeThe first thing families have to do is request an assessment of the need for early attention to the Regional Center for Child Assessment and Coordination (CRECOVI) Community of Madrid.

Access the form and instructions to process the request for assessment of the need for early care

How is the valuation carried out? Can the opinion be reviewed?

To request an early care need determination It is necessary that the professionals of the guidance network authorized by the Ministry responsible for Education or the health professionals of the Madrid Health Service make the referral first. by Unique Registry of Early Attention. After this referral, it is up to the families to apply.

Once the application is complete, with all the documentation indicated on the form, the Regional Center for Child Assessment and Coordination (CRECOVI) The family will be summoned to carry out the assessment. There they will be cared for by one or more members of the interdisciplinary child assessment teams (made up of a doctor, psychologist and social worker) depending on the needs of the minor.

With the information provided by the different CRECOVI professionals, the assessment commission determines the need or not for early attention and issues the judgment of need for early care which contains the diagnosis, the type of treatment recommended and its validity period.

The result of the procedure is notified to the parents or legal guardians by administrative resolution.

The finding of need for early care may be reviewed by the Regional Center for Child Assessment and Coordination (CRECOVI):

When substantial changes occur in the child's circumstances relative to those that existed at the start of receiving early care treatment.
When the validity period ends. In this case, parents must request a review of the assessment of the need for care within the three months prior to the end of its validity.

2) Request for an early care place

The opinion and resolution for early care are the documents that prove that the minor needs such care and allow the family to request, if they so wish, a public place for early care. In the application, you can indicate up to two centers of preference* from among the different ones that are part of the network:

The treatment units of Base Centers for Assessment and Guidance for people with disabilities of the Community of Madrid, which are public centers.
The Early Intervention Centers, which have places arranged by the Ministry of Family, Youth and Social Affairs.

*On the day of the appointment for the assessment of the need for early care, CRECOVI professionals inform families of how to apply for the place and the treatment that is given in each of the centers, depending on the needs of their child. .

Access to places is managed and processed through the General Directorate for Attention to Persons with Disabilities, whose technicians inform families when there is a place available for the treatment required by the minor in the center they have requested.

Access the form and instructions to apply for a public early care position

Characteristics of the network, recipients, requirements and regulations

Network Characteristics

The treatment units of the Base Centers and the Early Care Centers constitute a network specialized in the comprehensive treatment of children that seeks to promote their full inclusion, their capacity for development and their well-being, as well as the active participation of families in all the process.

All network centers have multidisciplinary teams that intervene from a global approach and from a individualized programming, in coordination with other socio-health and educational services involved in the care of the child.

Its services include:

Socio-family care (psychology, social work,…)
therapeutic care (stimulation, physiotherapy, psychomotricity, speech therapy and psychotherapy).

Recipients of the early attention service

They are recipients of early attention services:

Minors between 0 and 6 years of age, with developmental disorders, disability or risk of suffering from it and/or dependency, residing in the Community of Madrid. Foreign minors will receive early care under the same conditions as Spanish minors.
The minor's relatives who receive guidance and support, given that the family is the main driving force behind the child's development.
The minor's social environment, since early care involves coordination with other services (health, education, social services, etc.) involved in each case.

Requirements

Reside in the Community of Madrid.
Having recognized by CRECOVI the need for early care with a resolution in force or having requested the review at the expiration of the validity period (until it is resolved).
Be under 6 years, at the time of award. However, care will be extended until the end of the school year if the minor had reached the age of six on a date prior to this. In exceptional cases, the permanence of the minor in the early attention service may also be prolonged until his or her incorporation into compulsory education, following a favorable report from the competent body in the provision of early attention in the field of social services.
Not being enrolled in a special education educational center.
Not being enrolled in a cycle of primary education.
Not receive the same type of treatment and under similar conditions in other public or private centers or services.

Regulation

Treatment catalog

In general, the different treatments are provided both in the Early Care Centers (CAT) and in the Assessment and Orientation Base Centers for people with disabilities, except for child psychotherapy treatment which is only provided in the Early Care Centers (CAT). ) arranged by the Ministry of Family, Youth and Social Affairs.

Stimulation Physiotherapy psychomotor Logopedia Psychotherapy

Intervention planned systematically and sequentially, which occurs in the early stages of the child's life, in order to maximize their physical, intellectual and affective possibilities.

The stimulation programs cover all areas of development: sensorimotor development, language and communication stimulation, cognitive development, and social and affective development.

Intervention aimed at children who present specific sensorimotor disorders in order to facilitate their motor development and prevent or avoid the appearance of musculoskeletal deformities.

Intervention aimed at children with movement difficulties (coordination, balance, motor programming, etc.) in order to facilitate their motor and mental development.

It includes activities aimed at the integration of their body schema, rhythm, balance, static and dynamic coordination and space-time structuring. The development of personal autonomy and sociability skills is also pursued.

Intervention aimed at children who present difficulties in communication and language development, both comprehensive and expressive, with the purpose of achieving a global development of communication through the stimulation and teaching of communicative codes adapted to age and possibilities of each child.

The areas of development covered by this treatment are: development of preverbal skills, development of language in its three fundamental aspects (comprehension, expression and use), as well as development of augmentative and/or alternative methods of communication.

This work includes intervention with complementary aspects necessary for the proper development of language programs, including training families in effective methods for language stimulation.

Criteria for improving the quality of referral to speech therapy treatment in cases of speech difficulties without associated pathology , approved by the Technical Commission of the Regional Center for Child Coordination and Assessment (CRECOVI) at the meeting held on December 1, 2022.

Psychological intervention aimed at problems related to the development of the socio-emotional area and behavior. These treatments incorporate various techniques to improve cognitive, emotional and social aspects. We work within a framework of emotional content for the child, recognizing and encouraging their efforts, abilities and improvements in behavior.

In the family orientation that is developed in the child psychotherapy treatment, affective, normative and socializing elements are always considered in the attention of the parents. The nuclei of difficulty in relation to the children are analyzed with them and the most effective solutions are sought and, where appropriate, the modality of their participation in the sessions with the children is agreed with them.

Early Care Centers

The Community of Madrid has 55 Early Care Centers (CAT) arranged with specialized third-sector entities and distributed geographically throughout its territory.

Detail of a baby's hand playing with a wooden train

Early Intervention Centers

List of Early Care Centers arranged by the Community of Madrid. Addresses and contacts. April 2023.

Access the directory

The Early Intervention Centers have two types of places:

Treatment places: direct programmed intervention with the child, providing coordinated stimulation, physiotherapy, psychomotricity, speech therapy and psychotherapy services as required.
Support and follow-up places: intervention of lower intensity, which allows responding to children in risk conditions that, due to their characteristics, require that their evolution be assessed and supported on a continuous and regular basis.

Treatment units of the Base Centers

The following Base Centers for Assessment and Guidance for people with disabilities in the Community of Madrid offer early care treatments on an outpatient basis:

Base Center No. 1 Base Center No. 2 Base Center No. 3 Base Center No. 4 Base Center No. 5 Base Center No. 6 Base Center No. 9

Treatments of:

stimulation.
Physiotherapy.
Psychomotricity.
Speech therapy.
Program for premature infants in coordination with the La Paz University Hospital (guidelines for families and follow-up of children referred from the hospital).

Address and telephone number of the Base Center Nº1.

Treatments of:

stimulation.
Physiotherapy.
Psychomotricity.
Speech therapy.

Address and telephone number of the Base Center Nº2.

Treatments of:

stimulation.
Physiotherapy.
Psychomotricity.
Speech therapy.

Address and telephone number of the Base Center Nº3.

Treatments of:

Physiotherapy.
Psychomotricity.
Speech therapy.

Address and telephone number of the Base Center Nº4.

Treatments of:

stimulation.
Physiotherapy.
Psychomotricity.
Speech therapy.

Address and telephone number of the Base Center Nº5.

Treatments of:

stimulation.
Physiotherapy.
Psychomotricity.
Speech therapy.

Address and telephone number of the Base Center Nº6.

Treatments of:

Physiotherapy.
Psychomotricity.

Address and telephone number of the Base Center Nº9.

Core Centers

Recognition of degree of disability, information and guidance.

More information

Frequent doubts

If the child needs early care treatment, does that mean they have a disability?

No. The purpose of early attention is to favor the optimal development and maximum personal autonomy of children under six years of age with developmental disorders or at risk of suffering from them.

Disability implies a limitation for activities of daily living of at least 33%, while early attention needs are related to a gap between the developmental age and the chronological age of the child that may be transitory and not permanent.

When the family has only requested an assessment of the need for early care and CRECOVI professionals consider that the minor may have a disability, will guide the family, the day of the appointment, to request an assessment of the degree of disability.

Should the family also request recognition of the situation of dependency?

Although the recognition of the situation of dependency is not a requirement to receive early care, the assessment of The situation of dependency must be requested in those cases in which the municipal social services recommend it.

The early attention service is included among the services in the dependency care catalog so, if the minor needs them, it is advisable to request recognition of the dependency situation at the same time. In this way, both the assessment of the need for early care and that of the dependency situation could be carried out simultaneously and in the same act, whenever possible.

The situation of dependency does not have to be definitive, in fact, when it comes to children under three years of age, it is always subject to ex officio review every six months and is based on the age and evolution of the minor.

In the event that the minor is recognized as dependent, in addition to the early care service, he or she may receive support from other benefits from the dependency catalog such as the economic benefit for care in the family environment that helps cover expenses arising from your attention.

In the event that the minor is not recognized as being in a situation of dependency, he or she may still receive early care services as long as the need is determined by CRECOVI.

Early Care Coordination Protocol

El Early Care Coordination Protocol, approved by the plenary session of the Regional Center for Coordination and Child Assessment, is a document aimed at professionals involved in comprehensive care offered to children who require early care in the Community of Madrid, with the aim of presenting a complete overview of the action procedure in all its phases, from the initial from referral to the final phase of therapeutic intervention.

The protocol includes the coordination mechanisms between the professionals of the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Science and Universities, Ministry of Family, Youth and Social Affairs, Early Care Centers and Base Centers for Assessment and Guidance for people with disabilities and contains the catalog of public resources for early care in the health, educational and social fields.