Accomplishing Innovation: Developing Early Childhood Intervention Services for Children with Special Needs. A social history of the development of the Christchurch Early Intervention Programme

Abstract

This account of the Early Intervention Programme is based on interviews with Patricia Champion, the founder of the Early Intervention Centre, now called the Champion Centre. The focus for the interviews was how the Centre became established, the recruitment of staff, the expansion of the range of children and parents using the services of the centre, and the constant challenge to find a physical location for the services established to meet the needs of babies and young children with actual or potential learning disabilities. All the quotations in this narrative are extracts from the transcripts of four life story interviews conducted at Patricia Champion's home in Christchurch over several months in 2000.