Examines four dimensions of family rituals that may be relevant to early intervention practice for young children with disabilities. These are family ritual structure, meaning, persistence, and adaptability. Strategies for assessing family rituals and designing interventions that support and facilitate ritual enactment are provided. (DB)

In this study, 12 approaches used in analyzing developmental progress of participants in early intervention services were classified into one of five categories and 10 of these approaches were examined by using data from one early intervention program. The comparison concludes that the Wolery (1983) approach is most appropriate. (Author/CR)

This follow-forward study examined whether behavioral groupings (hyperactivity, hyperactivity with aggression, or comparison), created when children were preschoolers, were associated with different outcomes 5 years later. Parents (N=37) completed the Child Behavior Checklist at the outcome assessment. Results indicated that early assessments of…

Explores how the Chinese government responded to the so-called "juvenile delinquency wave" through comprehensive strategies focused on early social-educational intervention, work-study school, and juvenile reformatory. Concludes that Chinese approaches to delinquency may be effective even if they have limitations. (Contains 20…

Reviews "Contexts of Early Intervention: Systems and Settings." Maintains that the book's strengths include its discussion of how macrosystems reflect the overall context of early intervention, funding issues, and the comprehensive description of family child care. Suggests that not all chapters are equally strong in emphasizing research…

Proficiency in social interaction with adults and peers is an important outcome in early childhood. The development of an experimental measure for assessing growth in social skills in children birth to 3 years is described. Based on the general outcome measurement (GOM) approach (e.g., Deno, 1997), the measure is intended for use by early…

Cocaine use during pregnancy is a high-risk indicator for adverse developmental outcomes. Three levels of intervention (center, home, and primary care) were compared in a full service, birth to age 3, early intervention program serving children exposed to cocaine prenatally. Data were collected on 130 children from urban, predominantly poor,…

Constructing and maintaining a supportable daily routine is an important task for families with young children, particularly when the child has a disability. In this study, we examined relationships between children's developmental needs, disability diagnosis, and families' resources and accommodations. Participants included families with infants…

Autism, a lifelong neurological disorder that affects the functioning of the brain, occurs in about one out of every thousand individuals. This disorder can occur at or before birth and the symptoms are usually manifested during the first 3 to 5 years of life. Males are four times as likely to have the disorder, but it affects females more…

Separation Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is currently the most prevalent, yet most under-researched anxiety disorder in childhood. To date, there have been few studies investigating the efficacy of interventions for young children with SAD. The primary purpose of this paper is to describe the process of tailoring Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT)…

Despite the successes in the treatment of chronic trauma-related distress, little attention has been devoted to developing behavioral interventions to be delivered soon after traumatic exposure in an effort to promote positive posttraumatic adjustment and to minimize the likelihood of enduring psychopathology. As a result, other forms of early…

The presence of deafness in a family has the potential to affect all areas of family life. An understanding of the impact on family life is critical to addressing all components of the family system in early intervention. This review synthesizes the literature on deafness as it relates to four domains of family quality of life, including family…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a family-focused early intervention program developed to meet the needs of children with hearing loss and their parents. The participants were 12 children with severe and profound hearing loss who lived in a rural area of Turkey. They did not have any additional disabilities. Their…

Are preventive early childhood interventions effective in improving home environments, as assessed with the HOME inventory (Caldwell & Bradley, 1984)? The authors traced 48 published articles, presenting 56 intervention effects (N = 7,350). The combined effect size on the HOME total score was d = 0.20 (p less than 0.001). Randomized…

The extent to which presumptive eligibility was used to enroll children in early intervention was the focus of this study. Participants were 180 children enrolled in early intervention in western NC during a 2-year period. Presumptive eligibility was defined as the process of determining a child's eligibility for IDEA Part C early intervention…