In 2003, I began a doctoral research case study of the role of collaborative early intervention teachers as change agents implementing differentiated instruction in an intermediate school setting. Previous studies had focused largely on change theory in general, change in schools, early intervention programs, collaboration, or differentiated…

Early intervention for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) tends to focus on enhancing social-communication skills. We report the acceptability, feasibility and impact on child functioning of a new 8 weeks parent-group intervention to manage restricted and repetitive behaviours (RRB) in young children with ASD aged 3-7 years. Forty-five families took…

Among potential resources for people with serious mental illnesses (SMI) and their families, professionally delivered family psychoeducation (FPE) is designed to engage, inform, and educate family members, so that they can assist the person with SMI in managing their illness. In this article, we review research regarding FPE outcomes and…

As a result of the 1998 reauthorization of Head Start, the Department of Health and Human Services conducted a national evaluation of the Head Start program. The goal of Head Start is to improve the school readiness skills of low-income children in the United States. There is a substantial body of experimental and correlational research that has…

Autism has become one of the most heavily researched topics in the field of mental health and education. While genetics has been the most studied of all topics, applied behavior analysis (ABA) has also received a great deal of attention, and has arguably yielded the most promising results of any research area to date. The current paper provides a…

(Purpose) The purpose of this research model is to determine if a gifted preschool child will be less likely to experience severe emotional disturbance (SED) if he, or she, has been exposed to a curriculum that is appropriate for his, or her, mental age and an environment with true peers that is appropriate for his, or her, chronological age. …

Background: The rising prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) increases the need for evidence-based behavioral treatments to lessen the impact of symptoms on children's functioning. At present, there are no curative or psychopharmacological therapies to effectively treat all symptoms of the disorder. Early intensive behavioral intervention…

With its roots in clinical and educational psychology, school psychology is an ever-changing field that encompasses a diversity of topics. "The Oxford Handbook of School Psychology" synthesizes the most vital and relevant literature in all of these areas, producing a state-of-the-art, authoritative resource for practitioners,…

This article is in response to Dr. Jim Kauffman and colleagues' article titled "Problems Related to Underservice of Students With Emotional or Behavioral Disorders," which was published in volume 33, issue 1, of "Behavioral Disorders." The work referenced by Kauffman et al. was a report of a 4-year ethnographic study of the processes by which…

This article argues that current models of intervention for infants and toddlers with disabilities suffer from conflicting research results and practical implementation problems and discusses alternative approaches, including the need for comprehensive needs assessment, protocols for matching services with needs, interagency system changes, and a…

Reviews three areas of limitations in the comparative evaluations of early intervention alternatives for disabled children presented in this volume: (1) inaccurate outcomes measures; (2) a misconception of parent training programs as representing true family involvement; (3) and the lack of control over the integrity of treatment given study…

Evaluates the methodological quality of 39 studies of phonological-awareness interventions in children. Finds only seven studies met two-thirds or more of all the evaluative criteria (internal and external validity), although all of these investigations demonstrated at least one fatal flaw. Suggests improvements for future intervention research.…

H.H. Spitz argues that interesting results from the preschool intervention of the Abecedarian Project continue to be disregarded. C.T. Ramey reiterates his earlier objections to Spitz's conclusions, and H.H. Spitz rejoins with specific objections to Ramey. (SLD)

Reviews and discusses definitions of risk for disabilities and methods for predicting risk. Maintains that longitudinal and other types of studies have been used to resolve the difficulties in defining, identifying, and prioritizing at-risk children. Discusses the use of developmental epidemiological methods as an effective way to identify…

This commentary on a previous article that demonstrates three ways of analyzing qualitative interview data (content, cultural models, and narrative analyses), discusses the need for greater articulation of the complexities of interpretation and a greater emphasis on verification procedures in early intervention qualitative research. (CR)