While there are opportunities for families to fulfill leadership roles in early intervention, families often report feeling disempowered and unprepared to become leaders. To this end, in this pilot study, we evaluated the effectiveness and feasibility of an 8-hour leadership program for 20 parents of children who are receiving, or recently…

Family-school partnership is an essential component of the special education process for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Latinx families especially face systemic barriers when participating in education decision-making for their children with IDD. However, few interventions have been developed to facilitate and…

Self-advocacy is an essential skill for effective and successful integration into the wider social environment and is important for psychological and physiological well-being. The Performative Drama Model Ars Vitae was trialled to improve students' assertiveness and performance in real life. A 12-year-old boy with learning disabilities and…

Systems navigation can be difficult, especially for low-resourced families (i.e., families who are "low income" or meet one of the following indicators: mother has a high school diploma or less; primary caregiver is unemployed; or the family receives governmental assistance). Navigators may help families access services; however, the…

Autistic children and their caregivers in Argentina often lack access to information, resources and evidence-based interventions. Caregiver empowerment may help support families to uphold their child's rights and access suitable education and support. This study aimed to examine the perceptions on empowerment of caregivers of autistic children in…

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a lifelong chronic medical condition diagnosed through screening at birth. Complications of SCD can significantly burden affected children as they learn to manage their health needs. This study sought to investigate the perceived obstacles that may hinder children with SCD from receiving the necessary support and…

Research findings illustrate the strong connection between self-determined learning and reading performance for students with or at risk for disabilities. Students with or at risk for learning disabilities (LDs), who are at increased risk for academic failure, may benefit from instruction to promote self-determination skills. Causal Agency Theory…

This study reports on a randomized controlled pilot intervention study examining the effectiveness and feasibility of a low-intensity (i.e. three sessions), low-cost, parent advocacy intervention. The intervention study employed community-partnered research methods and targeted a low-income community of mostly Latinx, immigrant-origin parents of…

Latino, Spanish-speaking families of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face unique barriers in special education advocacy. Although advocacy programs are becoming more common in the United States, none of these programs target Latino families. This is a pilot study to examine the feasibility and effectiveness of an advocacy program for…

In September 2013, a Listening Session on Mentoring Children of Incarcerated Parents was held in Washington, DC. This session was organized by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in partnership with the White House Domestic Policy Council and Office of Public Engagement. It continues the…

Child Trends conducted a random assignment evaluation of the Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors program, one of the largest programs in the United States working with low-income Latino parents of children ages zero to five. Since it began in 2007, the program has served over 30,000 parents/families in 34 states. The evaluation study examined the…

A quality improvement system (QIS) is an intentional effort to raise the quality of afterschool programming in an ongoing, organized fashion. There are a number of reasons the QIS is gaining popularity. The main reasons community leaders are drawn to improving quality is that they know that 1) higher quality programs will mean better experiences…

Strategic Frame Analysis can inform the daily practice of policy advocates by bringing an evidence-based communications approach to their work. This case study of FrameWorks' decade-long association with the national Kids Count Network shares stories from advocates who are transforming their communications strategies, resulting in more effective…

Pediatric acquired brain injury (BI) not only affects the child with the injury, but also greatly impacts their family. Studies suggest there are higher rates of caregiver and sibling psychological distress after a child in the family has sustained a BI. Also, family functioning after BI impacts the child's recovery. In reviewing the literature,…

The second annual roundtable represents an on-going effort to share knowledge and information and to develop a common agenda and measure the achievement outcomes in child welfare. This roundtable's goals included: (1) reviewing and selecting appropriate outcomes for children and families in child welfare systems; (2) building understanding of a…