This paper examines issues related to the screening and assessment of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with disabilities or at risk for disabilities, from families of various cultural and linguistic backgrounds. An introductory section outlines issues of cultural and linguistic competence and provides definitions of key terms. Interviews are…

The goal of Project NETWORC was to develop a cost-effective model for providing preservice and inservice training in rural areas to individuals interested in working, or already working, with young children with special needs. In cooperation with the department of Instructional Media Services of the University of Nevada, Reno, the project…

The Assessment of Phonological Disabilities measure was administered to 39 normally developing children and 10 speech-delayed children who were Spanish speaking, of Puerto Rican descent, and ranging in age from 3 to 4. Data were analyzed by comparing phonological processes against the "standard referent" and the "Puerto Rican referent." The…

This paper examines literature on early intervention programs for disadvantaged and culturally diverse children from the 1960s to the present. The focus is on Project Head Start and its history, follow-through support programs in the primary grades, and current research on emergent literacy. The background of Project Head Start is provided, and…

The Children of Alcoholics Project (COAP) offers a preschool curriculum designed to increase the survival skills of children of alcoholics and help these children adjust to problems in an alcoholic home. The program goals address cognitive, social and emotional, and physical development. Children are selected for the program based on…

The paper describes application of an interactive model to providing services for young children with special needs being mainstreamed in community day care programs. In this model, the resource consultant coordinates service delivery in interactions with: (1) the child and family; (2) early childhood educators; and (3) resource specialists. The…

Outcomes of the Orchard Plan, an experiment designed to reorganize funding to support new models of instructional delivery, are described in this report. Basic elements of the program include an extended school calendar; a reorganization of categorical funding into intersession enrichment courses for at-risk students; a reduction in class size…

The purpose of this manual, the culmination of a graduate project begun at the University of Kansas, is to assist individuals with severe, multiple disabilities and their service providers in learning to utilize nonsymbolic behaviors in an expanded, facilitative manner that leads to more consistent and predictable communication functioning. The…

Begun in 1978 by a small group of Colombians who were affiliated with a private organization and who were interested in children's upbringing, education, and development, the Promesa Project began by organizing discussion groups among about 20 mothers and their children between 3 and 7 years of age in four remote villages on the shores of the…

This booklet reviews the literature while addressing over 100 questions that classroom teachers commonly ask concerning teaching students with behavioral disorders. Questions are grouped into three major categories. The first section, on effective assessment and evaluation practices, examines assessment for classification, diagnostic, and…

This paper discusses implications of assistive technology for teachers or early intervention professionals who are seeking to optimize the educational experiences of children with disabilities. The paper considers the role of the Federal Government in Public Law 100-407, which establishes a grant program for statewide delivery of assistive…

Five self-selected triads of Western Australia (W.A.) principals served as process consultants to improve their schools. Patterns of communication, leadership procedures, tensions impeding collaboration, decision-making, and problem-solving procedures were the foci of attention. The strategy asked each consultant pair (in turn) to clarify their…

Activities and accomplishments of the Napa (California) program for disabled infants, birth to 5 years old, are summarized; and forms and program materials are presented. Components of the program, which served 25 children (birth to 3 years old) in 1981-1982, are discusssed as follows: early identification of children at risk; developmental…

Developed by an outreach project for handicapped children 0 to 5 years of age and their parents in rural Maine, these 18 bulletins address topics related to living with a handicapped child. Directed toward parents, the bulletins touch on the following topics: parents' feelings, handicapped children's needs to be treated as normally as possible,…

The Nonbiased Assessment module contains seven sections that provide information on various issues relevant to the construction of programs for assessing minority group children. Each section, in addition to the discussion of the topic, contains a list of objectives for the workshop participant or reader, a pretest, simulations, and an annotated…