This study of 78 mothers of mentally retarded children and adults found that respite care acts as a differential service that can enhance coping resources and is of most benefit to high self-esteem mothers of young developmentally disabled children, especially as a home-based model. (Author/JDD)

Follow-up study of 4- to 14-year-old children (N=42) who had participated in a home-based infant stimulation program indicated that approximately 66 percent of subjects (most of whom had serious developmental disabilities) were in special education programs full-time, 20 percent were mainstreamed, and 15 percent were in regular classrooms…

An 11-week training program to improve the social-conversational skills of preschool developmentally delayed children was evaluated with nine mother-child dyads. After training, experimental children initiated more topics, were more responsive to their mother's preceding turns, and used more verbal turns and a more diverse vocabulary than did…

A study evaluated impact of supportive paraprofessional home visiting on 88 mothers and young children with or at-risk for developmental disabilities and at-risk for inadequate parenting. Mothers who received services demonstrated moderately better mental health than controls, and their children were more likely to have an Individualized Family…

Effects of family-oriented early intervention on the home environment were explored in a 6-month study of 23 handicapped children (ages birth to 5) and their families, who participated as members of an experimental or control group. The Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) Inventory was administered to evaluate differences in…