This article explores how visual impairment might impact on early social and emotional development including self-awareness and communication with others. Some children show a "developmental setback" and other worrying developmental trajectories in the early years, including autistic related behaviours and autistic spectrum disorders.…

Research indicates that a socioeconomic status-related gap in mathematical knowledge appears early and widens during early childhood. Young children from economically disadvantaged families receive less support for mathematical development both at home and in preschool. Consequently, children from different socioeconomic backgrounds enter…

The Annie E. Casey Foundation has published the "Data Book" for each of the past 24 years, tracking the well-being of America's children nationally and by state. To take advantage of the tremendous growth in research and data on child development, the Annie E. Casey Foundation has improved how they measure child well-being and rank…

The Early Head Start evaluation included 17 sites drawn from the first two waves of programs started more than a decade ago. By design, the Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) selected programs that would reflect the range of service options and context of all extant program rather than choosing a representative sample. The sites…

This practice guide includes a description of the development and use of a universal checklist for identifying infants and toddlers that may be eligible for early intervention. The checklist was specifically developed to facilitate and streamline the identification of potentially eligible children without the need to administer screening or…

In the spring of 2006, the University of North Carolina's (UNC) Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity hosted a competitive process to support original research by UNC faculty members in the form of policy briefs. Each brief was authored by a UNC faculty member and was reviewed by an academic and a practitioner in the field that the brief…

Psychologists are amongst the professionals who assess children to identify and prescribe for those with learning differences. They currently carry out these assessments in the context of the practice of inclusive education that involves providing for all children's educational needs in regular classroom settings. Recently, some psychologists have…

During the past several years, one of the most frequently addressed topics at conferences and in professional journals is responsiveness to intervention (RTI). This is because it is viewed by many as a new way to think about both early intervention and disability identification. Despite its relative newness, a subset of RTI proponents contend…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires that an Individualized Education Program (IEP) be developed for each child that receives special education services. To develop the most effective IEP, information is gathered from everyone who has worked with the child. In many schools the child receives early intervention services prior to…

The complexity of the early intervention to preschool transition process has been highlighted in the early childhood literature; however, the role of independent therapy providers in transition planning has not been described specifically. The present study used survey research methods to gather information about the transition practices of 103…

This article advocates an approach to supporting students who experience difficulties in learning, irrespective of nosology, particularly in the key areas of literacy and numeracy. In the state of Queensland, Australia, a distinction has been made between students' experiencing learning difficulties and those who have learning disabilities (LD).…

A literacy intervention is designed to produce accelerated change, moving student achievement rapidly and providing for sustained performance over time. Adopting a complex intervention is a problem-solving process that requires understanding of the conceptual congruity of all aspects of the theory, intervention, and training underlying the…

Educators and policymakers in New Mexico are aware that far too many at-risk children do poorly in school, drop out, or perform poorly even if they graduate. In July 1990, the Rockefeller Foundation provided funds for a pilot "New Mexico Academy for School Leaders." The academy brought together 34 elementary school principals, teachers,…

This report presents testimony and statements concerning the reauthorization of the early intervention and preschool programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Among the presenting testimony were: Carol Ann Baglin of the Maryland Infants and Toddlers Program; Dr. Robert Davila, of the Office of Special Education and…

This paper develops and tests a new logical model for assessing the impact of early reading interventions. The analyses use a survey of Indiana's elementary schools, including schools funded for Reading Recovery and classwide interventions, as well as a group of control schools. The findings indicate that state-funded Reading Recovery was…