Systematic review of early intervention programmes for children from birth to nine years who have a physical disability.

Aim: To systematically review the literature on the effectiveness of early intervention programmes for children with physical disabilities.

Methods: Twelve electronic databases were searched for articles published between 1990 and April 2008. The quality of articles was appraised using an adapted version of the Checklist for the Evaluation of Research Articles and the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale.

Results: Ten studies were included in the review. Cross-sectional and interrupted time-series studies were of moderate methodological quality, whereas the non-randomised control trial was of moderate-to-high methodological quality. Studies differed considerably with respect to participants, types of intervention and outcomes measured.

Conclusions: Positive outcomes for both children and families have resulted from early intervention. However, methodological limitations hamper a more rigorous analysis of findings across studies.