This booklet for parents of young children with special needs provides a variety of child-rearing suggestions as well as an updated listing of resources. After an introduction which defines special needs and summarizes basic principles, the following chapters address: (1) the family as the most important support for a child; (2) the evaluation…

The concept of emotional competence entails resilience, self-efficacy, and acting in accord with one's sense of moral character. This suggests argues that emotional competence is demonstrated by the self-efficacy in emotion-eliciting encounters and identifies eight key emotional skills that support its acquisition in interpersonal contexts. The…

This volume is about children's health, how good science teaching and scientific thinking can improve health, and how health education can contribute to scientific thinking. It is concerned with skills for life: skills which can save and improve lives; skills which go beyond the classroom and are used in daily life and which, when thoroughly…

This practicum was designed to increase nurturing relationships between primary caregivers and infants prenatally exposed to cocaine. Goals were to increase the general emotional well-being of the caregivers within the family unit, to increase the interpersonal competence of the caregivers in relation to the care receiving infants, and to increase…

The Center for Comprehensive Health Practice in the East Harlem area of New York City operates an early intervention program called the Infant School to promote the healthy development of high-risk children from birth to 2 years of age, including those of mothers who had been users of cocaine and/or crack. The Infant School curriculum is designed…

This newsletter issue focuses on the specific concerns of many parents as their special child "ages out" of protected special education environments and moves into the adult world. It highlights the practical aspects of the transition years as well as the emotional components involved in "letting go." The newsletter's articles…

This kindergarten curriculum guide describes children's learning and development in a play-based environment and the creation of such an environment. The first part of the guide discusses child development. Physical development is considered in terms of sensory awareness, motor skills, creative movement, skilled actions with objects, and the…

A new approach to teaching and curriculum takes seriously the knowledge children have when they enter school. Teachers use the knowledge each child has to make instructional decisions so that the child learns mathematics with understanding, how to solve problems, and the computational skills. Research concerning the problem-solving strategies…

This collection contains the keynote address and several presentations that were delivered at a University of Minnesota conference on issues in early childhood education. Keynote speaker Rheta DeVries discussed three tasks facing the educator who is learning to be a constructivist teacher: understanding the nature of the child's mind; overcoming…

Taking the premise that curriculum design embraces the historical introduction of "order" into schooling, this paper considers theories of curriculum order since the 16th century. Calvinist social discipline brought a curriculum of schooling to be followed and to be completed as well. Peter Ramus, a 16th century professor, reshaped…

The Child Development Program Evaluation Scale (CDPES) is actually two scales in one, a licensing scale and a quality scale. Licensing predictor items have been found to predict overall compliance of child day care centers with state regulations in four states. Quality scale items have been found to predict the overall quality of child day care…

In 1983, Santa Monica College (SMC) created a task force to assess the college's need for child care services and to devise possible service models for consideration. Subcommittees were formed to address student and staff child care needs; ways of funding child care services; criteria for possible child care facilities and sites which met these…

This issue of the newsletter focuses on early intervention for handicapped preschool children. The lead article, entitled "Promoting Independent Work Skills in Handicapped Preschool Children," highlights findings of a project designed to identify critical skills needed for independent functioning in mainstream preschool and kindergarten…

This paper reviews instructional strategies for dealing with learning-disabled preschool children in mainstreamed classrooms. It focuses on the teacher's role in developing the child's abilities in the areas of social skills, choices and anxiety, sequencing and routine, transition periods, and motor skills. To enhance social skills, peer…

This publication includes presentations made at the Aikin-Stinnett Lecture Series and follow-up papers sponsored by the Instructional Research Laboratory at Texas A&M University. The papers in this collection focus upon the basic assumptions and conceptual bases of teacher education and the use of research in providing a foundation for…