The introduction to this Special Topic Collection has two parts. To provide background and context for the articles in the collection, Part 1 tells the story of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study program at the National Center for Education Statistics. It offers an abridged history of this program and describes the designs of the two national…

This article profiles the Hope Infant Family Support Program in San Diego, California, and its shift to providing educational services in the natural environment. How the program managed this complex change process is discussed, including the development of a vision statement, incentives, skill development, resource allocation changes, and action…

This article describes the Walden Toddler Program, a comprehensive early intervention model designed to be used for toddlers with autism in the natural environments of a child care center and children's homes. It reviews the program's philosophical foundations and describes key components of the model's incidental teaching. (Author/CR)

Continuing erosion of the structure of low-income families perpetuates a vicious cycle of moral and economic troubles--poverty, drug and alcohol dependency, out-of-wedlock births, child and spouse abuse, juvenile delinquency, and crime--that feed on and create more impaired families. Accordingly, this report contends that the major portion of the…