Purpose: A recent approach to identifying early markers of risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been to study infants who have an older sibling with ASD. These infants are at heightened risk (HR) for ASD and for other developmental difficulties, and even those who do not receive an eventual ASD diagnosis manifest a high degree of…

This paper describes an intensive educational program for mother-infant pairs from disadvantaged populations. The program had three aims: (1) to help the mothers understand that the way they interact with their infants makes an important difference in the child's development; (2) to encourage and teach mothers to respond to infant vocalizing and…

This paper presents a system for synthesizing the educational objectives of infant curricula and illustrates the procedure by reviewing the synthesis of several specific objectives of the Carolina Infant Curriculum. Five sources are used in the synthetic process: (1) consumer opinions, (2) developmental theory, (3) developmental facts, (4)…

Addressed to trainers of infant day care providers, this presentation indicates knowledge and skills through which trainers can foster competence in caregivers. First, caregivers should be familiar with Eriksonian and Piagetian developmental theory. Second, caregivers should be aware of the guidelines for practice provided by empirical research.…

This paper describes the philosophy and procedures of an educational intervention program with high risk infants which is part of the Infant Studies Project at UCLA. The intervention is directed specifically at providing mothers of such infants with techniques, practices, and observation skills which enhance maternal ability. High risk infants are…

This paper attempts to refute the assumption that early motor development is determined genetically and is not influenced by environmental factors. The paper re-examines three studies which are consistently cited as providing evidence for a maturational theory of motor development: the "early training study" by Gesell and Thompson, the "swaddling…

This paper on facilitating skill development of infants and toddlers with disabilities within family-child routines focuses on: (1) developing a routine analysis by incorporating multiple Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP) objectives into family-selected routines; (2) utilizing systematic family training procedures to integrate targeted skills…