Early Childhood Intervention and Education:The Urgency of Professional Unification

Issues of critical current concern in early intervention focus on the goals of expanding the quantity and enhancing the quality of existing services. Unification between the fields of early childhood special education (ECSE) and early childhood education (ECE) may be necessary to achieve these goals. As reported in this article, a comparison of the two fields in the areas of policy and practice documented greater commonalities than differences. Shared philosophical and theoretical perspectives that highlight the importance of providing flexible child- and family-centered services are moving the fields in converging directions. Why, then, do we continue to construct policy and design practice in ways that emphasize the separateness of ECSE and ECE, rather than join together as a unified profession dedicated to the single mission of providing appropriate services to support the development of all young children and their families.