Focuses on strategies that aid cognitive competence in children of poverty. Explains how development may be hindered, delineating instructional strategies that may be useful to the development of cognitive processes. States multiple strategies exist to promote cognitive competence and that intervention strategies assist the child's effectiveness…

The United States leads all other developed nations in inappropriate teenage pregnancies and the educational and societal consequences. Describes activities of the community-based I Have a Future Program (IHAF), built on the premise that changes in sex behavior must be pursued in a framework of enhancing self-esteem and presenting positive…

Describes the chief characteristics of the Success for All program and reports some results of its effects on beginning readers and writers. Concludes that reading failure is fundamentally preventable for nearly all children, regardless of home background. (MG)

Qualities of strong families of children with disabilities are described, and assessment tools for measuring these strengths are reviewed. Empirical evidence for the reliability and validity of the Family Functioning Style Scale (FFSS) is presented, along with discussion of psychometric aspects of the test. Guidelines for FFSS use in interventions…

This study examined psychometric properties and usefulness of the Evaluation and Programming System: Assessment Level I (EPS-I) by analyzing validity, reliability, and utility data from 335 nonhandicapped, at-risk, and handicapped infants and young children. Outcomes portrayed EPS-I as a valid, reliable, and helpful instrument for developing and…

This paper describes an early intervention model demonstration project providing center- and home-based instruction to children with severe/profound handicaps, aged birth to three years, and their parents. The social reciprocity model used, participating children, daily activities, and evaluative findings are discussed. (Author/PB)

This study assessed the judgments of 131 preschool special education teachers on the acceptability, feasibility, and current use of child-specific, peer-mediated, and environmental arrangement intervention strategies for promoting social interaction skills of young children with disabilities. Teachers found all three types of interventions…

Describes the range of health or social service home visiting programs in the United States, examining the characteristics of successful programs, the outcomes produced by such programs, and the future direction of home visitation. Recommends that home visiting programs be voluntary, flexible, culturally sensitive, well-staffed, and realistic in…

Discusses how home visiting, as a process, can be used to improve the health and development of young children, outlining a conceptual framework to evaluate home visiting programs. Argues that successful programs must be comprehensive in their approach to addressing children's and families' needs in multiple health and development domains. (MDM)

Reviews extant research on children's social skills, including their ability to modulate their feelings, their social cognitions, and their behaviors within the context of peer interaction, as measures of social competence. Examines definitions of social competence in light of assessments of children's performance. Offers policy recommendations…

Describes the Fred S. Keller School, one of several schools operating as a Comprehensive Application of Behavior Analysis to Schooling Program. The school functions as a cybernetic system of education in which the individualized instruction of each student influences the behavior of the entire education community. (CR)

Evaluates the methodological quality of 39 studies of phonological-awareness interventions in children. Finds only seven studies met two-thirds or more of all the evaluative criteria (internal and external validity), although all of these investigations demonstrated at least one fatal flaw. Suggests improvements for future intervention research.…

Proposes a method of evaluating program efficacy based on data evaluating the school performance of 19 children, 14 with severe hearing losses, enrolled in an auditory/verbal early-intervention program. The evaluation indicated that 16 of the children were fully included in mainstream classrooms and 18 were using FM systems. (Author/CR)

This reprint of a 1970 article examines some emergent concepts of psycholinguistics and relates them to the development of a language-training program for children with deafness. It discusses the stages and process of language development, and the advantages and disadvantages of the total-communication approach, oral communication, and the…

Explores the applied research in which object-related play skills of preschool children with developmental concerns are enhanced through intervention strategies. Guidelines for teaching toy play skills are offered as are strategies to promote generalization and maintenance of those skills. (DB)