This paper discusses issues concerning legal protection and the legal rights of children, child law in the United States and in Europe, and attitudes of lawyers and child specialists regarding proposed changes in child protection and child rights laws. Several issues were identified. (1) How can children receive additional legal protection without…

This brief paper discusses how in 10 year's time a system for providing caregiver training was developed in Texas. The training accessibility system consists of five dimensions: publications, free materials, resource rooms, child development specialists, Title XX training contracts and traveling resource vans. Tips for program continuity under…

In a conference convened to evolve new research approaches to the study of child development within the family, workgroups discussed emerging issues and priorities in research on children and families, information on children and families (needs and sources), and current methods and approaches in child development research. Workgroup I evaluated…

Critical thinking (CT) teaching strategies are an effective way for teacher educators, especially those of child development students, to help students understand the individual nature of the learning process, the need for dialogue and interaction, and the need for students to be able to apply theory to practice. CT involves the ability to use…

The Healthy Steps for Young Children program is a national initiative developed by pediatricians from Boston University in collaboration with professionals from the Commonwealth Fund. This program for families with young children (birth to 3 years of age) provides developmentally--oriented services within pediatric primary care through addition of…

Strategies for promoting reflection in prospective early childhood teachers are summarized. Each strategy was field tested and documented in the course "The Development and Administration of Child Service Programs," which was team taught during the summers of 1994 and 1995 at The Pennsylvania State University. About 30 students enrolled…

A cost-free counseling model was developed to meet the changing needs of elementary school students in a small college city in California. A training program for graduate students was set up within the public school setting and was clinically supervised. Marriage, Family, and Child Counselor and Licensed Educational Psychologist internships were…

The Child Abuse Potential Inventory was completed by 56 Head Start staff. Because the Head Start program creates an environment where staff work almost exclusively with parents or with children, it was possible to examine the perceived differences among workers attracted to child or parent work. Scores for classroom and non-classroom staff were…

This paper discusses the issues surrounding the establishment of a system of professional development and training for early childhood workers and practitioners in the United Kingdom. The paper focuses on what needs to be done to accomplish an effective and efficient program of continuing professional development of practitioners. The paper first…

Adult participation at the Early Childhood Research Center (ECRC) of the State University of New York at Buffalo is described in this paper. Five different programs serving families with infants, toddlers, and children 3 and 4 years old are briefly described to illustrate the complexity of program coordination at ECRC. The roles of staff teaching,…

This paper deals with the role of the child developmentalist in improving interdisciplinary assessment and treatment of children with behavioral and learning problems. A specific task of Developmental Services of the Texas Research Institute of Mental Sciences was to optimize the utilization of professional staff in a development assessment…

This book includes papers presented at Indiana University's International Conference on Young Children, which focused on basic research, early education programming and sociopolitical issues, relating all three to policymaking. Among the presenters were Basil Bernstein, Nicholas Anastasiow, Sara Smilansky, Virginia Shipman, Bettye Caldwell and Ira…

The Oklahoma Assistive Technology Center was developed as an interagency collaborative effort, with one of its services being the delivery of positioning and mobility services to young children with developmental disabilities. The Center operates as an outpatient clinic and coordinates outreach services through two satellite centers in rural…