Examined the effectiveness of the Avance Parent-Child Education Program in teaching low-income, Mexican American mothers of infants to teach their own children. Found significant program effects on Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment scores, on view of self as teacher, and on videotaped mother-child interactions. Found results…

Incorporating observational procedures into an IQ testing situation, the study included behavioral indices as outcome measures of an educational intervention program. Program and control groups involved 40 low-income Mexican American children, ages 4-5. Given the testing situation, program children exhibited significantly more work and verbal…

This study examined the effectiveness of the Avance Parent-Child Education Program, a 9-month center-based program, with an in-home component, designed to provide low-income, Mexican-American mothers of infants with parenting education and family support services. A total of 524 mother-infant diads took part in the Avance program or served in a…

The Houston Parent-Child Development Center (PCDC) is described. PCDC is similar to most compensatory education programs in its objectives, but different in process as it starts intervention during infancy and directs educational efforts at the parents. The program is open to low income Mexican-American families with at least one child under 3…

The Houston Parent-Child Development Center was established to provide a basis for educational improvement for Mexican-American families and to yield basic information about the importance of the whole family for a child's success in learning. Certain cultural factors, such as language and sex role expectations were taken into account in…

Finds that the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence and the Florida Kindergarten Screening Battery were highly similar as predictors of future reading ability for 59 5-year-old, low income, Mexican-American children. Perceptual performance subtests in both measures correlated better with reading ability than verbal subtests. (SV)

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of different tasks on behavior in mother-child interactions. Five tasks, varying in degree of structure and difficulty, were used in mothers' interactions with their children at 24 and 36 months of age. Subjects were Mexican-American mothers and their children. All were participants in an…

Described in this symposium report are results from three studies exploring the relationship of home environments in infancy or early childhood to school performance. All studies used the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) and drew their data from the files of the Houston Parent-Child Development Center, a 2-year…

Observational measures of mother-child interaction, home environment, demographic variables, and maternal attitudes were used in developing two causal models for classroom and achievement test performance for 86 Mexican American children. Mothers most strongly promoted academic competence by serving as appropriate role models and encouraging an…

Tests causal models of verbal and performance IQ in 69 Mexican-American children of low socioeconomic status. Years of mother's education were correlated with IQ at 3 years and at 6 to 8 years, but traditional/nontraditional attitudes showed conflicting correlations over time. The adequacy of standarized IQ tests for this population is questioned.…

This follow-up study examined effects (in grades two through five) of a two-year parent-child education program for low-income Mexican-American families of children ages one through three. There were no program effects on school grades, retention, or referrals, but program children achieved significantly higher on tests of reading, language, and…

In order to assess the quality of stimulation in the home environment, the Inventory of Home Stimulation (HOME) was used as part of the evaluation strategy for the Houston Parent Child Development Center Program, which attempts to help parents develop their competence as teachers of their own children. One hundred low income, Mexican American…

This paper describes a strategy for the development of Parent-Child Development Centers (PCDCs) directly involving parents in preschool programs for children up to three years of age. The five-part strategy has been implemented through: (1) a proposal phase, for three comprehensive-program centers for low-income families and (2) a four-year…

This final report describes the development and evaluation of a parent education program, the Houston Parent Child Development Center in Houston, Texas. Funded by the Office of Child Development the Houston Model was especially developed to meet the needs of low income Mexican American families with preschool children. Major components of the…