![\"Door](\"https:\/\/www.veipd.org\/earlyintervention\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/shutterstock_49753867-202x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe quick answer to this questions is – LEAVE. That should be easy but often it is not. Think about this situation:<\/p>\n
When you arrived at the family’s apartment, there were a lot of people milling around\u00a0on the front steps. You weave your way through them and knock on the family’s door. A man who you have never met answers the door and tells you that the mother, who you usually see, is still asleep but that he will go wake her so you can come on in. You go inside and find the child is walking around in the living room, wearing a heavy diaper and eating a pizza crust. You\u00a0wait\u00a0inside the dark apartment and notice a strange smell. You can hear the adults talking in the back bedroom\u00a0but 10 minutes pass and no one comes out. You don’t want to leave the toddler unsupervised but your gut feeling says that something is not right. You ask yourself…what do I do?<\/p>\n
Do\u00a0I wait a little while longer?<\/p>\n
Do\u00a0I knock on the bedroom door and ask them if\u00a0I should reschedule the visit?<\/p>\n
Do\u00a0I leave if\u00a0I can’t get anyone to answer?<\/p>\n
This is an unsettling situation that an early interventionist can easily find him\/herself in. What you do may depend on how well you know the family, on your own temperament, and whether you feel that the child is in immediate danger.<\/p>\n