Washington's Infant Toddler Early Intervention Program Study

This report presents information on infants and toddlers, age's birth to three with delaying or disabling conditions, who were enrolled in Washington State public services on December 1, 1997. An estimated 2.5% of children under the age of three in the state of Washington have delaying or disabling conditions. The rate of enrollment in services in Washington (2.1%) was somewhat lower than the rate found in the National Health Interview Survey for children with limitations in some daily activity (2.4%). The enrollment rate (3.4%) for Medicaid eligible children, with family incomes up to 200% of the FPL, was greater than that for non-Medicaid children (1.1%). The enrollment rate for children of mothers with no prenatal care (6.8%) was over three times higher than that for children of mothers who received first trimester prenatal care (2.0%). Characteristics of infants at birth that were associated with high enrollment rates include low birth weight (11.1%), preterm birth (6.0%), and Apgar score less than 8 (10.3%). Enrollment rates were highest for those with Down syndrome (93.1%) and cerebral palsy (81.6). Children of mothers with diagnosed substance abuse had an enrollment rate of more than three times that for all other Medicaid children in Washington (9.5% versus 3.0%).