Background: Early intervention services adopting a family-centred approach are considered important for ensuring parent satisfaction. This study investigated the satisfaction of two mothers with an early intervention programme for young children with autistic spectrum disorder. Materials and Methods: While 16 mother-child dyads participated in a…

The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the implementation process for Parenting Plus, an early intervention program in a rural, western Canadian health district. Parenting Plus, as modeled after Hawaii Healthy Start, provides strength-based paraprofessional home visitations to overburdened parents of newborns. The general inductive…

The aim of this study was to explore the reasons why vulnerable women refuse to take part in early interventions. In-depth interviews were conducted with 19 women who refused to take part in an evaluation of an intensive home visiting programme. A number of themes were identified including perceptions about vulnerability, misperceptions about the…

This article refutes 10 myths and identifies literature that supports service delivery to infants and toddlers with disabilities in natural settings. The benefits of naturalistic intervention, home-based services, and family-centered services are discussed, and concerns regarding therapist shortages, ethical problems, personal safety of providers,…

This article reviews experimental studies of home-based early interventions for infants at biological risk and their families. The paper presents a description of developmental interventions in intensive care nurseries, a rationale for continuing developmental interventions (in particular, home-based services), and implications for early…

This program evaluation report presents information on Project SKI*HI, a home-based program for infants and young children with hearing impairments and their families. The program's major goals are early identification of hearing-impaired infants and a home program to facilitate child development. A parent advisor makes weekly home visits to each…

This article proposes that combining home visits with service coordination could be an effective method of determining what services are needed by families of young children with disabilities and at the same time providing intervention in the home setting. Competencies needed for this dual position of service coordinator and home visitor are…

Describes a comprehensive continuum of services model for children with autism developed by a human services agency in Massachusetts, which incorporates these and additional empirically based approaches. Service components, methodologies, and program objectives are described, including representative summary data. Best practice approaches toward…

This commentary reviews previous articles that discuss major educational approaches for young children with autism from the perspective of a parent with a child with autism. Considerations for parents in selecting an intervention and the need for more intervention information and resources for parents are addressed. (CR)

This report documents the activities and outcomes of the 5-year model demonstration project AHEAD (At Home and At Day Care), a Utah program that is designed to deliver services to infants, toddlers, and young children (ages birth-3) with noncategorical disabilities. The program delivers services to the children and their caregivers in their…

This monograph reports achievements of the SKI*HI project, a 3-year outreach project to improve access and development of services to presently unserved or underserved infants and young children with hearing impairments as well as to provide leadership and technical assistance to agencies implementing the SKI*HI model. The project provided direct…

This final report describes activities of Project INSITE, a 3-year home intervention program delivering services to infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with deaf blindness or other multidisability sensory impairments. The family centered model features the use of early intervention professionals known as parent advisors who visit homes weekly to…

This paper lists practices recommended by the Council for Exceptional Children's Division for Early Childhood concerning service delivery models in early intervention and early childhood special education (EI/ECSE) programs for infants and young children with special needs and their families. An introductory section discusses five principles that…

This study, involving 357 mothers, assessed the type and scope of services provided to families participating in 63 early intervention programs. Analysis found that services were more related to child information and family instructional activities than to personal/family and resource assistance, and that home-based programs and center-based…

This paper presents three case studies describing the experiences of rural families receiving early intervention (EI) services for a developmentally disabled infant/toddler. Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) (1997 amendments) provides funds for home-based, family-centered, transdisciplinary EI services. The case…