This practicum was designed to give parents of preschool children with autism an understanding of the disorder and appropriate skills to manage their children's challenging behaviors. A curriculum-based training series involving weekly 2-hour sessions was implemented during a 12-week period for 25 participants. Goals included increasing the…

The Even Start Family Literacy Program, in its fourth year of operation, provides a literacy environment based on the Family Intergenerational-Interaction Literacy Model (FILM) in the southwest area of Oklahoma City. The FILM model is designed to provide a family literacy education program for parents, extended family, and their preschool children…

This document describes Hawai'i's Healthy Start Program, a statewide, multisite home visitation program designed to screen, identify, and work with at-risk families of newborns. Goals of the program include: (1) reducing family stress; (2) improving family functioning; (3) enhancing child health and development; and (4) preventing abuse and…

This paper reviews the literature and offers an international perspective on current programs and issues in training individuals with mental retardation to parent, nurture, and care for their children. The first section reviews the limited research on the development of children of mothers with mental retardation, some existing parent training…

This educational guide, designed for use in Catholic elementary and secondary schools, religious education programs at all grades, youth retreats, teacher training, or parent and adult sessions, places issues related to immigrants and refugees in a Catholic perspective. It offers some basic materials to use and adapt for children and adults to…

Family support programs are proactive efforts based on the assumptions that families have primary responsibility for their children's development and well-being; that healthy families are the foundation of a healthy society; that families operate as part of a total social system; and that the institutions upon which families rely for support must…

This practicum paper describes an intervention to help parents increase their sense of empowerment. Expected outcomes of the intervention were that parents would: (1) increase their knowledge of concepts related to empowerment, such as control and nurturance; (2) experience a shift from an external to an internal locus of control; (3) observe an…

A study identified four principles, based on transfer of learning research and cognitive theory, for guiding curricular decisions, instructional development, and teaching practices in ways that support transferable learning. The principles were as follows: (1) emphasize intermediate-level knowledge in curricular decisions; (2) create in the…

In an attempt to provide a model of language intervention tailored to toddler needs, this poster session gives an overview of a playgroup program implemented by a speech-language pathologist and an early intervention specialist. The program's aim is to improve communicative abilities while maintaining the integrity of the child-caregiver…

A study investigating how disadvantaged parents interact with their children in literacy tasks probed the following questions: (1) what styles of interaction do young, welfare-recipient mothers display when reading a story book with their preschool-aged child? and (2) how do the styles relate to factors such as the child's age and mother's…

This study examined New Zealand kindergarten teachers' perceptions or implicit theories of their role in children's learning, the nature of their curriculum, and how they perceived children as learners. Twelve head teachers of urban kindergartens were interviewed on the basis of Carr and Kemmis' (1983) seven categories of teacher knowledge: (1)…

This booklet for parents explains what children learn in preschools that employ the Creative Curriculum for Early Childhood and the ways in which learning can be reinforced at home. The first sections of the booklet explain the goals and philosophy of experience-based preschools. Goals include teaching children to love reading and school and to be…

The role that contemporary parent training programs play in solving problems caused by breakdowns in the family unit and parent-child relationships is clarified. Guidelines are offered to help various segments of society provide parent training. Part 1 explains why parent training is needed and highlights modern parent training programs. Part 2…

This book focuses on the personal development of parents and children. It gives ideas on how to increase family members' self esteem by teaching them to value themselves. The book's open format allows readers to use it in any way they choose. Offered here are numerous suggestions for understanding family dynamics, along with a myriad of techniques…

DAY ONE is an education program offered to parents of newborn children to help them become the child's first educator. The DAY ONE Research Project was a collaborative effort of the West Virginia Task Force on Children, Youth, and Families and the Charleston (West Virginia) Area Medical Center Women and Children's Hospital to measure the…