Findings are presented from a project which aimed to estimate the prevalence of developmental disabilities among Navajo children, aged 0-5 years, living in the Navajo Nation; determine what services they and their families require; and recommend policy and practice to assure that needed services are received. Section I provides a description of…

These conference proceedings deal with an interdisciplinary approach to reducing handicapping conditions and ensuring integration of and equal participation by people with disabilities in all aspects of community life. Papers from plenary sessions cover such topics as psychological and social aspects of rehabilitation, research methodology in…

This study investigated possible warning signs in students predicting future trouble with school suspensions. A year-long study of the school histories of 219 secondary students suspended numerous times from the Montgomery County Public Schools examined these students' early school experiences and behavior. Only two percent of students in grades…

The New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities initiated a project to produce a description of existing state and local programs and models of service delivery for early intervention services for children aged 0-5. A survey of 72 public and private service providers in 12 New York counties determined that 11,185…

This paper provides a brief review of the issues regarding families in early intervention programs for handicapped children and proposes the assessment of family needs as a first step in designing family-focused interventions. While traditional approaches to early intervention tend to be exclusively child-focused, professionals are encouraged to…

California's K-6 Early Intervention Project was established in 1986 under the authority of California Assembly Bill 1535, Pilot Project on Hyperactivity, to provide a system of early identification and assistance to children in kindergarten through grade 6 whose behavior problems interfere with learning. This report contains evaluation findings…

The program review process in Kansas Regent's institutions was studied, based on Guba's three policy types: policy-in-intention (statements about policy); policy-in-implementation (behaviors/activities found in the process of implementing policy); and policy-in-experience (constructions/perceptions of individuals as they experienced the policy…

Adolescent substance abuse is a leading problem in schools today. If prevention efforts by schools are to be effective, needs assessment and evaluation must be integral parts of the process. A comprehensive needs assessment of school substance abuse prevention programs in the western United States was conducted to: (1) describe the degree and…

Thirteen papers were selected from presentations made at a 1985 multidisciplinary conference on programing for adolescents with behavior disorders. The following papers are included: "Adolescent Needs and Behavior in the Schools: Current and Historical Perspectives" (S. Braaten); "Programs for Adolescents: What Works and Why?" (J. Lipsitz);…

This paper reviews the literature on urban school dropouts and the experiences of superintendents in attempting to lower the dropout rate. The paper is divided into two major sections. Part I examines how a mixture of societal, community, family and other influences increase the chances that an at-risk student will experience little success in…

This field hearing in Berkeley, California examined: (1) the increasing incidence of babies born with, or at risk of contracting, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS); (2) the ability of health and social service systems to care for AIDS-infected infants and children and their families; and (3) prevention efforts to reduce the spread of…

The infant mortality rate in the District of Columbia is higher than that for any other state. This high rate stems from the great number of infants born seriously underweight and reflects the area's high percentage of births to impoverished black women. Efforts to reduce the mortality rate have centered around the medical treatment approach,…

This paper discusses path analysis and the applicability of this methodology to the field of family studies. The statistical assumptions made in path analysis are presented along with a description of the two types of models within path analysis, i.e., recursive and non-recursive. Methods of calculating in the path model and the advantages of…

A rationale for early childhood and parent involvement programs is provided in this volume, along with guidelines and examples of how to proceed. Each of its nine chapters includes a bibliography. Chapter 1, "Rationale for Early Intervention," examines such topics as the importance of the early years, teaching parents to intervene, and…

This report presents preliminary findings based on the first full year of the Child and Family Resource Program (CFRP) evaluation, begun in the fall of 1978. The analyses described in this report are intended to provide answers to four major questions: (1) What is the nature of the CFRP and how do programs vary from site to site? (2) To what…