The "Business Administration Scale for Family Child Care" (BAS) is the first valid and reliable tool for measuring and improving the overall quality of business and professional practices in family child care settings. It is applicable for multiple uses, including program self-improvement, technical assistance and monitoring, training,…

To date, there has been little research into the school's practices that influence caregiver involvement in the education of students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) that gives voice to both families and teachers, and little research has used a mixed-methods approach. In contrast to those studies that mainly concentrate on qualitative inquiry…

Background: Many early intervention teams are shifting their service delivery for children with disabilities from a child-focused model to one that focuses on strengthening the competence and confidence of the child's caregivers (parents, childcare providers, preschool teachers). The use of coaching strategies in a primary coach model of service…

The Families Matter series of papers from the Harvard Family Research Project advances the concept of family-centered child care, advocating an approach to early childhood education that addresses the development of the child and family together. Grounded in family support principles, which build on family strengths and work from a community's…

This practicum was designed to enhance the perception of the early childhood professional among parents of children at an on-site child development center in a medical center. A pattern was documented of negative communication and lack of respect for the goals and policies of the child care center. The practicum's goal was to replace the parental…

Because of the difficulty of finding time for professional and personal development, many family child care (FCC) providers are isolated in their work environment. This practicum study developed a provider-initiated support network to reduce this isolation. The local FCC association provided advertising about the formation of the network. A group…