What is Strengthening Cross-Sector Collaboration to Improve Early Intervention for Young Bilinguals with Disabilities in Urban Communities? 

It is a project about how the early years provide a unique opportunity to build strong foundations for lifelong learning, health, and well-being. For young children with developmental delays or disabilities, Early Intervention services can make a lasting difference, yet many bilingual children never receive them. This is because the systems meant to help are often fragmented, hard to navigate, and poorly coordinated. Families move through a complex web of health, education, and social service providers, and when those providers do not communicate well with each other, children fall through the cracks. Bilingual children are disproportionately affected, and many miss out during the critical window when support is most effective.

Meet the team 

This project, led by Dr. Johana Chaparro-Moreno and Dr. Dina Castro, partners with an early childhood education program in Boston to understand what gets in the way and what helps. By listening to families and service providers, and working together to create simple, practical tools, we aim to make early intervention services more accessible and more appropriate to bilingual families.

Project Team