Evaluation of The Effectiveness of The SAFE Early Intervention Program

The SAFE early intervention approach, an activity-focused, sensory intervention program, was applied to the babies in the intervention group in an enriched environment. As part of the intervention, coaching was provided in collaboration with the family on how to support the baby's development. For this purpose, family visits were made 15 days after the initial assessment and once a month. During these visits, the suggestions given to the family were repeated and all questions about the process were answered. It was discussed how the home environment should be structured in a way that is appropriate for the baby's development. The aims of the approaches applied were explained and information was provided about the follow-up process. In order to follow up on whether the family implemented the intervention, the family was interviewed by phone and the family was asked to keep an activity diary.

Within the scope of the study, NGT-based applications were applied to the babies included in the control group by their families. After the first assessment, activities were planned to support skills appropriate to the child's developmental level. The treatment movements, how to facilitate the baby's movements, and how to provide hand contact were demonstrated to the families in practice. The applicability of the intervention program was monitored with weekly phone calls. The babies were called to the clinic environment for a check-up every month to revise the intervention program and teach new movements, and an evaluation was made. Two home visits were made to evaluate the families' home environments and parental attitudes (pre- and post-intervention).