This review examines how recommended practices for toddlers with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are integrated into interventions in the first generation of research targeting toddlers with ASD. The purpose was not to review intervention effectiveness, which is addressed in other reviews; rather, it was to assess reported intervention methods in…

For a variety of reasons, professionals are taking greater control over their own professional development and demonstrating a commitment to lifelong learning. Online resources and social media outlets have provided new ways for professionals to connect and form learning communities to build core knowledge and set standards of practice. The…

"Kids Share 2014: Report on Federal Expenditures on Children through 2013," an eighth annual report, looks comprehensively at federal spending and tax expenditures on children. Total federal expenditures on children were up from 2012, but below spending in 2010. Broader budgetary forces will continue to restrict spending on children over…

In 1994, the federal Early Head Start (EHS) program was created to address the comprehensive needs of low-income pregnant women and children under age 3. EHS was created almost 30 years after Head Start was established in 1965 to serve low-income 3- and 4-year-old children and their families with comprehensive early education and support services.…

Kansas Early Head Start (KEHS) provides comprehensive services following federal Head Start Program Performance Standards for pregnant women and eligible families with children from birth to age 4. KEHS was implemented in 1998 using Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) quality set-aside dollars augmented by a transfer of federal…

Since 1999, Nebraska's Early Head Start Infant/Toddler Quality Initiative has supported Early Head Start (EHS) and community child care partnerships to improve the quality and professionalism of infant and toddler care. EHS programs apply to receive funding to establish partnerships with center-based or home-based child care.The initiative has…

Schemes that seek to ensure that children have access to technology at home have, so far, been aimed at children over the age of 8. However, there is likely to be an increasing policy interest in extending similar schemes to pre-school children given widespread commitment to the value of early intervention in children's education and family life.…

In the last decade, China began developing early intervention services for very young children with hearing loss, and their families. This article presents a broad description of some of these programs, including the national rehabilitation networks for speech and hearing training, increased attention on the development of professionals, the…

This study evaluated whether engagement (i.e., attendance and quality of participation) in the Parenting our Children to Excellence (PACE) program predicted positive child and parent outcomes. PACE in an 8-week preventive intervention aimed at parents of preschool children. The study investigated the relation of engagement to outcomes in an…

Early-intervention and early childhood professionals have long considered "family-centered" service delivery best practice. Exactly what family-centered practice means, however, remains unclear. The lack of consensus in defining family centeredness results in incongruence in the manner and degree to which professionals implement "family…

The purpose of this study was to determine in what ways the quality of plans developed by individualized family service plan (IFSP) teams changed following targeted revisions to the IFSP form and instruction manual. IFSPs were collected from 94 family service coordinators, one IFSP from each before and one from each after the form revision. The…

There are multiple ways to gather information from families receiving early intervention services (J. J. Woods & D. P. Lindeman, 2008). In this article, we discuss a specific strategy for doing this through information-gathering conversations with families. The routines-based interview (RBI; R. A. McWilliam, 1992, 2005a) was developed to meet a…

This study used a pre-experimental and post-experimental design to evaluate a TEACCH-based Early Intervention Programme. Thirty-one parents of 18 preschool children recently diagnosed with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder attended the eight-week programme delivered by trained facilitators. Parents completed pre-intervention and post-intervention…

The profound injuries caused by child maltreatment are well documented in the neurological, attachment, cognitive, and developmental literature. In this review paper, we explore the potential of early childhood education (ECE) as a community-based resilience intervention for mitigating the impacts of child abuse and neglect and supporting families…

Early care and education providers often are the first to notice children's developmental differences because their extensive knowledge about and experience with typical development is a baseline frame for recognizing differences. Educators of young children are aware that the earlier children with developmental delays, such as those caused by…