Targeted or universal pre-K? Direct instruction or learning through play? These and other debates are heating up as more and more young children across the country gain access to pre-K programs. Now there's a single volume that spotlights today's most urgent pre-K debates, explores each one from all sides, and paves the way for sound, educated…

Available resources and indicators of high quality inclusive practices are presented in this compilation. Assembling many different resources in one place allows for easy comparison of potential indicators of quality. Excerpts and adaptations of the resources are intended to provide some familiarity with the content of each resource and encourage…

Findings from a national study of early intervention programs and toy libraries for handicapped children in Australia are summarized. After an introduction to theoretical concerns, chapter 2 reviews the rationale for early intervention and describes research on components of exemplary programs and on evaluation of the effectiveness of early…

The study with three elementary-level moderately retarded students and peer mentors from the regular education program demonstrated that peer mediation was effective in facilitating cooperative play between regular class students and retarded students. Treatment effects were maintained for at least three months. (Author/DB)

This article describes an intervention in which three parents were taught to use facilitative strategies when interacting with their children with profound mental retardation. The intervention consisted of reinforcing appropriate parent behavior as it was being observed by them on prerecorded videotapes. Facilitative strategies included the use of…