This guide argues for the implementation of Reading Recovery in schools because it: serves high-risk children and diminishes their numbers; is curriculum independent and provides equally for diverse populations; delivers a high level of teacher training without removing teachers from their work; provides built-in coaching and evaluation within the…

The period from kindergarten through second grade is a critical time for developing basic reading skills. This report focuses primarily on assessment of reading in early elementary school. The report discusses what is known about making assessment meaningful and describes what the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) states are doing about…

This study explored the potential of meta-analysis for assessing the efficacy of interventions designed for parents of young, environmentally at-risk children. Included in the sample were 232 evaluations of 282 parent-focused interventions implemented between 1965 and 1999; evaluations met 10 criteria, including the inclusion of a treatment and…

This digest discusses student profiling and describes strategies for reducing the risk of violence in schools. "Student profiling" refers to a process in which checklists of behaviors and personal characteristics associated with youth who have perpetrated violence are used to determine a student's potential for future violence. A central…

This document is comprised of six technical reports detailing the methods and findings of the first major study in the United Kingdom to focus on the effectiveness of early years education. The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education Project (EPPE) studies the progress and development of 3,000 children in various types of preschool and…

This report offers highlights of a special summit in Colorado during which policymakers and citizens discussed the many causes and possible solutions to youth violence. It opens with the statement that solutions start with family, community, faith, and a culture that reinforces the lessons of right and wrong. It advocates connecting every child…

Critiques research findings on the effectiveness of the Early Intervention Project (EIP) for children with autism. The review finds sufficient threats to the experimental validity of the EIP to prevent unqualified endorsement of it as a validated treatment for children with autism. The review found in particular there were threats to external…

Highlights the importance of early intervention for children with disabilities and describes early childhood education for children with disabilities in Botswana. The role of non-governmental organizations and the missionaries in providing services, the inaction of the government, and the lack of integration of children with disabilities is…

Describes the experiences of individuals with Usher Syndrome, discusses the lack of appropriate services and the failure of professionals to provide sufficient information on the condition, and stresses the importance of access to information and the acquisition of new skills before the visual impairment becomes severe. (Author/CR)

Compared effectiveness of vicarious and written training techniques to teach parents an early stimulation program for infants with Downs Syndrome. Found that infants whose parents were trained through observing a clinician stimulate their child had higher average developmental quotients in gross motor and language development between 6 and 24…

Centrality of relationships (the integration of relationship-based concepts at the program, family, and child levels) is proposed as an organizing principle for the field of early intervention with children having disabilities. The shift from developmental deficit-based models to relationship-based organizing principles requires reformulating…

A study of 15 preschool children with autism found that the majority were able to identify preferred peers and that participation in a social skills program, in addition to an early intervention program, led to increases in skills that could be observed in the generalization setting. (Author/CR)

This article explains how comprehensive interdisciplinary, clinically oriented evaluation can become an intervention by educating the parent about a child's development, providing a context for observation, identifying child and family strengths, and helping the parent to interact with the child. During the evaluation process, parents begin to…

This paper responds to "Jamaican Deaf Children Interacting with Written Language: Support for Bilingual Instruction?" (Winnifred Hall), that stressed the importance of cultural factors in the education of students with deafness. Difficulties in implementing bilingual programs, alternative bilingual/bicultural models, and the need for…

The author of "Jamaican Deaf Children Interacting with Written Language: Support for Bilingual Instruction?," responds to criticism that the difficulties of implementing a bilingual program were underestimated and the relevance of early intervention in learning English was not sufficiently recognized. Support for early intervention is…