Natural disasters create immense challenges for young children by exposing them to a high degree of adversity. Interventions designed to build resilience in the aftermath of a natural disaster may help buffer the negative consequences of these adverse experiences. In this article, we report the results of our quasi-experimental evaluations of two…

It is a matter of concern when large, federally funded programs are evaluated using designs that produce misleading information. In this article, we discuss problems associated with an evaluation design that was adopted by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) to document the performance of a major early…

University early childhood programs attempt to balance a traditional tri-part mission: service to children and families; professional development of caregivers/teachers, clinicians, and researchers; and research on child development, learning, and/or education. Increasingly, infants receive care and education on university campuses, yet little is…

While fiscal year 2012-2013 was a year of transition for the Office of Early Learning (OEL), fiscal year 2013-2014 proved to be a year when new leadership, organizational structure, direction and vision coalesced, producing results that demonstrated the office was moving in the right direction. The first day of the fiscal year--July 1, 2013--was…

My dissertation examines the effectiveness of three policy choices in meeting socio-economic goals. The first analyzes the impact of public health education and poverty relief on child mortality in the early twentieth century, when infant and child mortality rates in the United States were startlingly high. During the 1920s, the rates dropped…

Noting prenatal and early childhood home visitation by nurses has had positive effects on birth outcomes in several at-risk populations, this study examined the impact of weekly home visits by systematically trained visitors on birth outcomes of high-risk pregnant women within the context of a Florida Healthy Start project. Participating were…

Examined impact of a year-long course to enable new mothers to become more knowledgeable, observant, and responsive to their infants' cues. Found that compared to the non-intervention group, intervention group mothers significantly increased their knowledge of infant development, were more proactive with regard to infant medical care, and their…

Describes a comparative longitudinal study of the development of medically fragile infants who entered intervention programs at 3 and 18 months. Reports similar outcomes on functioning measures for the first two annual assessments but higher scores in the third year for infants who received intervention earlier. (BCY)

This paper outlines the design and outcomes of an investigation comparing a day care program and home-rearing of infants and preschool children and discusses at length some issues involved in day care research. The study proposed to develop and evaluate a program at a Toronto municipal day care center which accepted infants, and compare the…

Experimental group mothers reported significantly greater self-confidence and satisfaction with mothering and more favorable perception of infant temperament than did control group mothers. Differences between children on cognitive scores became significant at 36 and 48 months of age, when the experimental group caught up with normal children. (RH)

Examined impact of a 5-week music/movement program involving relaxation, kinesics, singing, visual contact, and tactile stimulation on first-time mothers' use of music and movement with their infants. Found that the program extended mothers' use of relaxation to music and rhythmical movement with their infants but not the use of song and massage…

Children's developmental progress was studied to determine if location and types of services for handicapped preschoolers (classroom or home and classroom combined) were significantly related to child progress. Data indicated an overall trend for progress for all participating children, but neither service delivery model emerged as the superior…

Compared outcomes for visually impaired children and their families in two early intervention programs: a weekly, home-based program treating children and a program of monthly meetings for parents. Found that the more expensive, weekly program had negligible effects on child and family functioning. (BCY)

Compared cost effectiveness of an in-hospital intervention approach for medically fragile infants and a traditional approach of postdischarge referrals. Found that the in-hospital approach resulted in five times as many hours of intervention services for infants and cost three times as much as the referral approach, with few differences in effects…

This report summarizes the findings of a study of the effects of home environment on child outcomes as influenced by the Infant Health and Development Program, an intervention aimed at improving the health and development of premature, low birth weight infants through parental education and support and enriched educational day care and health…