This report re-evaluates evidence on the issue of age ranges served of handicapped children in Illinois schools, analyzes additional research on the issue, and estimates the cost that would be incurred if the current 3-21 year range were to be lowered to birth. A literature review addresses two broad areas: the identification and effectiveness of…

The booklet discusses the concepts of sharing centers and sharing center kits in the Macomb (Illinois) 0-3 Regional Project, a rural home based program to serve rural handicapped and high risk infants and toddlers. It is explained that sharing centers provide opportunities for parents to share experiences and learn new approaches to working with…

The first of 16 documents on the Macomb (Illinois) 0-3 Regional Project describes the development and operation of a home based rural child-parent service for families of handicapped and high risk children. The child development specialist organizes sharing centers where parents come together to learn about new Piagetian-based play activities and…

Onunaku, Ahlers, and Gilkerson describe Illinois's effort to build infant mental health capacity within the Part C Early Intervention system and Wisconsin's effort to build capacity for infant and early childhood mental health services statewide across all systems that serve children. Because of multiple funding streams, families often experience…

Following a 5-year planning and development cycle, Illinois has completed its first year of full implementation of a statewide, comprehensive, coordinated system of early intervention services for eligible infants and toddlers and their families under provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Among accomplishments noted…

A statewide staff mentoring program was developed in Illinois as an option for providing a personalized, intensive approach to training early intervention personnel on a large scale. Evaluation results for the initial period of developing the process and for the first eight trainer-trainee dyads suggest this approach is individualized,…

Six papers focus on aspects of the Macomb (Illinois) 0-3 Regional Project, a rural home based program to assist parents and their handicapped and high risk infants and toddlers. The first paper discusses the role and operation of home visits, with emphasis on the functions of the child development specialist (CDS). The second paper describes the…

This final report describes the activities and outcomes of a federally funded project designed to develop, implement, and evaluate a systemically oriented process model for improving the coordination of education and human services for young children with identified disabilities and their families at the local level. The project developed and used…

A conference held in 1987 at Dartmouth explored the design and implementation of a comprehensive, coordinated community-wide approach to promoting the health of families and children. This publication provides: (1) conference presentations; (2) reports of delegations from Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire; (3) participants' discussion of issues;…