Early Years

The Early Years Service gathers the assistance and prevention interventions for infants until 6 years of age, their families and environment. The aim of the Service is to provide a response as early as possible to the temporary or permanent necessities presented by the infants with development alterations, being physical, psychic or sensorial, or with a risk of suffering them.

The population benefiting from the CDIAP Services are:

  • Infants at risk on their development due to family or social factors
  • Infants presenting alterations on their development according to their age
  • Infants with a biological risk (i.e. premature babies) or presenting evident deformities, birth defects, brain injuries and other anomalies

The EDAI Centres

The Centres for Early Childhood Development Services (CDIAP) carry out this assistance and prevention task in Catalonia. They are a universal free public service integrated within the Catalan Social Services Scheme. Professionals from the fields of psychology, neuropediatrics, speech therapy, pedagogy, physiotherapy and social work form the multi-disciplinary team.
The aim of the CDIAP Centres is: to help in the best possible way our young patients and their families through an assistance and prevention task which is close, integrative, global, interdisciplinary and which is also coordinated with the different network services where research, training and quality have an impact in the constant progress of our services.

Our CDIAP services are:

  • Global assessment of the child´s functioning (functional diagnosis)
  • Therapeutic integrative intervention with the child (individually or group)
  • Parenting groups
  • Developmental assessment of the child
  • Family support and orientation
  • Nursery, Pre-school and Primary School Assessment as well as in paediatric groups
  • Elaboration of prevention and detection programmes of high risk situations during child development
  • Elaboración de programas de prevención y detección de la situaciones de riesgo en el desarrollo infantil
  • Research, Teaching and Training tasks

CDIAP EDAI Les Corts-Sarrià

The CDIAP EDAI Les Corts-Sarria is located in the centre of Les Corts, one of Barcelona´s oldest and historical boroughs, with archaeological findings dated as early as the 2nd Century BC. The name ´Les Corts´ derives from Latin and it means rural houses and fields, referring to the homes of farmers in the old town. Our CDIAPS also work in the districts of Sarria and Vallvidrera, or Tibidabo and Les Planes, which share similar origins. All of these areas maintain the same spirit still present nowadays: they are family-orientated, peaceful and a caring community.

CDIAP EDAI Sant Martí

The CDIAP EDAI Sant Marti is located in the district of Sant Marti, an area that holds in its identity both past and present of the city of Barcelona: it preserves the original old town of Sant Marti de Provençals, and it is at he same time the newest district of Barcelona due to the Diagonal Mar development, which has gathered a high number of families with young children.

Aims of the Early Years Service

  • To reduce the effects of a deficiency or weakness on the overall development of the infant
  • To optimise the infant’s development in every possible extent
  • To promote basic compensation mechanisms, barrier elimination and adaptation to specific needs
  • To avoid or reduce the appearing signs of effects or deficiencies, secondary or associated, as a consequence of high risk
  • To assist and cover the necessities and demands of the families and the infant´s environment
  • To consider the infant an active member of the intervention