Columbus, the largest city in Ohio, is an epicenter for several overlapping health disparities, including poverty, food insecurity, and infant mortality. A group of volunteer undergraduate students at The Ohio State University sought to reduce some of these disparities through the creation of ENCompass: Empowering Neighborhoods of Columbus. This…

Los Angeles County's experience, write Christina Altmayer and Barbara Andrade DuBransky, shows how a universal offer of assistance can establish a foundation on which public and private agencies can plan meaningful systemic reform--and spark incentives for greater, more effective investments in services directed to vulnerable families. The…

Universal screening and referral are crucial for maternal, infant, and early childhood home visiting programs to improve maternal, infant, and early childhood outcomes. The purpose of this article is to describe a county-wide, centralized intake and referral system. The authors report results and lessons learned for reducing service duplication…

Background: Few field trials exist on the impact of implementing guidelines for the early detection of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The aims of the present study were to develop and evaluate a clinically relevant integrated early detection programme based on the two-stage screening approach of Filipek et al. (1999), and to expand the evidence…

Designed for regular and special education administrators, diagnosticians, and teachers, the manual describes recommended practices and procedures for identifying and serving LD (learning disabled) children, as required by Illinois state and federal regulations. The manual is divided into the following four topic areas (sample subtopics in…

A survey was conducted of the hearing screening practices of 415 (out of a possible 422) Wisconsin school districts operating prekindergarten through grade 12 schools. The tabulated data for each question on the survey are presented in this report along with a discussion of issues and suggestions for improving the hearing screening programs in…

A model for evaluating the progress of handicapped children in resource settings is proposed, and results of field testing the model in elementary and junior high school resource rooms are presented. It is explained that the evaluation model was designed to meet the requirements of P.L. 94-142, The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of…

Evaluated special needs referral system in an urban Head Start program. The Early Intervention Screening Profile completed by independent raters revealed that, in the first assessment, all referred children had speech/language problems, some also showing emotional or behavioral problems. Teacher-completed EISPs with a second sample identified over…

Notes that articulating existence and cause of referral biases is critical to more effective preschool services. Maintains that until high child poverty, exposure to violence, and shortage of safe and stimulating environments are addressed, escalating rates of serious child emotional/behavioral problems will continue. Asserts that we must question…

The manual is intended to help Florida school districts provide educational programs for mentally handicapped students. An introduction traces the history of services to this population in Florida. State regulations are then cited along with procedures for determining student eligibility. Subsections address definition, eligibility criteria,…

The research evaluation project attempted to assess the effectiveness of new state (Kansas) guidelines for determining eligibility and placement of students in the areas of learning disabilities (LD), behavioral disorders (BD), and speech/language; and to assess the effectiveness of preassessment instructional programming options and screening…

The report examines the status of special education in St. Louis (Missouri) Public Schools. Census data are reported by primary handicap, age, and principle type of service received. Difficulties in the process of diagnosis and assignment of handicap category are revealed, including confusion over eligibility for learning disabled (LD) and…

The report examines the progress made in implementing the requirements mandated by the Education of the Handicapped Act, as amended by PL 98-199, with a specific focus on activities during school year 1984-85. Data are presented regarding four major topics: (1) students receiving a free appropriate public education (factors associated with serving…

The Infant Follow Along Program (IFAP) is an interagency effort to improve the identification of infants and toddlers who may experience health or developmental problems because of medical or environmental risk factors. The program also facilitates data collection and referral for services for infants and families. The program is in use in an…

Contends that implications of Fantuzzo et al's study go beyond Head Start and pertains to other programs serving infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. Suggests that when considering policy implications of the study, two issues should not be ignored: (1) the child within the context of a broader society; and (2) the importance of collaboration in…