In 2021, California committed to providing universal prekindergarten (UPK) for all 4-year-olds and expanding access for income-eligible 3-year-olds by 2025-2026. California UPK includes several early learning programs, including transitional kindergarten (TK), the California State Preschool Program (CSPP), Head Start, and locally funded early…

Families of adolescents with ASD, and school staff who support them, often report that maintaining good personal hygiene can be difficult for their sons, daughters, and students. Hygiene is the practice of keeping up with one's health and cleanliness. Maintenance of hygiene includes washing hands after going to the bathroom, using a tissue when…

Because children under age 5 are susceptible to food-borne illnesses and children in diapers present special sanitation and health problems, food safety and sanitation are emerging as important issues for child care providers. This booklet is designed to give providers and parents a quick and easy reference for food safety and sanitation. The…

This paper offers practical suggestions for vocal hygiene programs designed to prevent, identify, and treat vocal abuse by young children. Suggestions include construction of homemade instructional materials and use of commercially available resources. (DB)

A discussion of the transmission and prevention of hepatitis B focuses on implications of the disease for special educators, including maintaining confidentiality, providing education in the least restrictive environment, curriculum modifications in related behavioral/social areas, and personal risk. Relevant administrative and legal questions are…

For health instruction to be of benefit, personal practices must enhance health behavior. Self-management skills, stimilus control procedures, and reinforcement control procedures to make behavioral changes consistent with health-related decisions are described. (MT)

Four student minicenters, concerning friendship, good grooming, good housekeeping, and fitness, are described. Reproducible materials to be used in the centers are included as well as instructions and suggestions. (CJ)

Self-care in toileting is one of the areas that persons with autism frequently have difficulty managing and are often confused by training. In developing a toilet training plan, critical factors include teaching the skill where it will be used, considering modesty concerns, communicating clear expectations, ruling out medical problems, and…

Analyzes Canadian activities of the Junior Red Cross (JRC) to understand the role of international movements, voluntary agencies, and informal educational practicies in curricular change. The JRC's ongoing success is attributed to overlapping educational and Red Cross personnel, its production of usable classroom materials, and its practical…

Discusses a reasoned response by child care centers to the AIDS virus problem. Considers means of transmission and hygienic practice. Concludes that there is either an extremely low risk or no risk of transmission by children infected by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to other children in a day care setting. (NH)

A curriculum designed to incorporate sex education into the regular curriculum through a human growth and development approach is described in a six-level outline focusing on social identity, physiological identity, and health and hygiene. (CL)

Three elementary-aged students with quadriplegic cerebral palsy and severe/profound mental retardation were taught three toothbrushing tasks (brushing teeth, rinsing, and wiping mouth) using time delay to fade physical prompts, reinforcement, and error correction. Two students reached criterion on all three tasks; one student reached criterion on…

Like food-service establishments, child nutrition programs are responsible for preserving the quality and wholesomeness of food. Proper food-handling practices prevent contamination and job-related accidents. Application of the evaluation instrument presented in this document to individual programs helps to define proper practices, assess the…

Discusses a study which sought to determine if food service management training and certification resulted in more sanitary operations. Findings from site inspections, pre/post tests, and attitude surveys indicated that the program did not produce statistically significant differences between control and study groups but that improvements in…

Some children in American schools have known and unknown communicable diseases, including herpes, cytomegalovirus, AIDS, mononucleosis, pinworms, and hepatitis. This article examines major public health issues, school responsibility, preventative measures (like basic hygiene), and the need for more effective community education programs. A disease…