Caregiver coaching is an evidence-based practice for young autistic children, but it is not widely used in community-based early intervention services. Previous research has explored why caregiver coaching is not widespread in early intervention, but only from the perspective of early intervention providers. Caregivers, providers, and…

Infant-directed speech (IDS) produced in laboratory settings contains acoustic cues, such as pauses, pitch changes, and vowel-lengthening that could facilitate breaking speech into smaller units, such as syntactically well-formed utterances, and the noun- and verb-phrases within them. It is unclear whether these cues are present in speech produced…

This study explored the impact of a caregiver training intervention on caregivers' use of individually selected facilitative language techniques (FLTs) with their children (ranging from 14 to 27 months of age) who were deaf or hard of hearing. In addition, the study sought to identify real-time relationships between caregiver input and child…

Research studies support caregivers' involvement in children's mathematical journeys, as foundational to their cognitive development and academic success as mathematical learners. The purpose of this intrinsic case study was to understand how a caregiver initiated and/or continually engaged their child in spontaneous mathematical moments during a…

With the rates of autism and the Latino population steadily rising in the United States, Latino families face marked disparities with access to timely and quality care. To date, there is little documented literature for how to best support Latino caregivers of young children with autism. Caregiver coaching is one method to disseminate…

Dual language learners are often underidentified for having language delays and may not receive services in their caregiver's primary language. This study explored how the language used during evaluations influenced the effectiveness of a brief intervention for children with mild language delays. By examining whether evaluation language impacts…

Background: Direct Support Professionals (DSP) work closely with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) and can play an important role in helping these individuals get treatment when they are also experiencing mental health concerns (MHC). Methods: We employed a systematic review search techniques to identify 15…

Universities and their employability-related staff must address the inequities that claim diversity as a disadvantage and a barrier to securing work integrated learning and graduate employment. With increases in equity groups enrolling at university there is a need to ensure access to employability opportunities. Graduate employability should be…

Early childhood home visiting programs are well positioned to improve equity and reduce health disparities for families headed by caregivers with intellectual disabilities and other learning differences. Early identification of learning differences through screening may help home visiting staff tailor services and thus improve family engagement…

This doctoral study examined the function of baby massage in supporting early infant-carer attachment relationships among families facing stressful life experiences. It was designed in response to Bennett, Underdown and Barlow's [Bennett, C., A. Underdown, and J. Barlow. 2013. "Massage for Promoting Mental and Physical Health in Typically…

Family child care (FCC) providers are key suppliers of care and education to young children, yet they often experience stressors that can influence their ability to provide developmentally appropriate care. This research sought to understand the direct and indirect associations among FCC providers' relationships with families they serve,…

Caring for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can be complicated, especially when challenging behaviors are present. Providers may feel unprepared to work with these individuals because specialized training for medical and social service providers is limited. To increase access to specialized training, we modified an effective…

Research Findings: Measures of home child care (HCC) quality are limited and tend to be labor intensive. This article presents the measure development process as well as psychometric, construct, convergent and discriminant validity analyses for the HCC version of the Assessment for Quality Improvement (HCC-AQI) measure. The HCC-AQI is part of a…

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore the experiences of caregivers who advocate for a child with social anxiety. Parents of a child diagnosed with social anxiety describe similar experiences and challenges. Often parents adopt the role of advocate in order to obtain the necessary school services for their child. This…

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenology design was to describe the experiences of caregivers to adults with I/DD in the State of Texas. The theory guiding this study was the social constructivism framework which focused on how language and culture frame how individuals communicate, experience, and understand reality. In this study, the…