Washington's Infant Toddler Early Intervention Program Study: December 1, 1998

This report presents information on infants and toddlers, age's birth to three, with developmental delays or disabilities, who were enrolled in Washington State public services. An estimated 2.5% of children under the age of three in the state of Washington have developmental delays or disabilities. Over the last five years the number of children served has increased by 31% from 4,055 to 5,332, and the proportion of children enrolled has risen from 1.6% to 2.3%. As in previous years, the enrollment rate for Medicaid-eligible children, with family incomes up to 200% of the FPL, was greater than that for non-Medicaid children, the enrollment rate for children of mothers with no prenatal care was over three times higher than that for children of mothers who received first trimester prenatal care, and children of mothers with diagnosed substance abuse had an enrollment rate of more than three times that for all other Medicaid children in Washington. The report also finds that rates of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) eligibility for children enrolled in early intervention services were more than 100 times greater than for all other children. Rates of out-of-home placement, children affected by drugs and alcohol, and mortality between ages one and three for early intervention enrolled children were generally around ten times greater than those for all other children. The proportion of children eligible for medical assistance during the first year of life has shown continuing increases from 1992 to 1997, and about nine of every 10 low-income children born in 1996 enrolled in a Medicaid managed care plan before their first birthday.