This guide discusses preparing volunteer tutors for success in educational environments and describes the startup year of these programs. Research and experience in the field suggest that a good beginning is key to the long-term survival of new programs. The startup year is the most challenging. It requires leadership to muster the energy and…

How a Head Start program expanded to become an early child development program'' which includes training for the parents in a Community Education Center.'' (SP)

Suggests that systematic provision for the participation of clients in decision making could mitigate a number of longstanding problems in child welfare. Argues that clients' opinions are not, a priori, any more or less subjective than those of child welfare professionals. (Author)

Reviews empirical research on the effects of deinstitutionalization programs on families, focusing on family treatment, labeling, scapegoating of the youth, and widening the net of the juvenile justice system. Raises concerns about the potential cost of deinstitutionalization to family members brought into treatment. (Author/MJL)

A study to determine the characteristics of pregnant adolescents living in Travis County, Texas, found that 38 percent were Mexican-American, 38 percent had a gynecologic age of three or less, and 63 percent planned to place their child in the school nursery while completing their education. (LRA)

A rationale for including a leisure time activities curriculum component in educational programing for severely handicapped individuals is presented. The importance of play and the constructive use of leisure time is described through the use of a model demonstration project. (JN)

Families that work well communicate clearly and often in a noisy fashion. Generational boundaries and subsystems are well-defined. Decision making is effective and efficient. Healthy families are adaptive and able to cope with the passage of time and eventual loss of their members. (Author)

A family-oriented clinical simulation for training physical therapists is described and compared to other role-playing techniques. Advantages, disadvantages, and potential contributions to the student's professional growth are discussed. (SK)

The article reviews a variety of biophysical variables which contribute to autism or autistic symptoms, and discusses the nature and manifestations of these psychobiological variables in terms of the need for individual yet comprehensive educational interventions and family support services. (DLS)

A program for teaching sex education in the schools, using public health and school nurses with teacher and parental cooperation is described, including program objectives, methodology, presentation, and course content. (JMF)

Describes a six-month experimental library program carried out in Venezuela that sought to develop a home alternative to regular preschool education by providing parents and other adults in the family with the means of teaching children academic and problem-solving skills required by school. (Author/JD)

Synthesizes the research on infant-parent interaction and proposes a model for introducing and including infant-parent interaction in family-centered early intervention with young children having disabilities. The model stresses the family's vision for the child's future and the family's role in active decision making. (DB)

This response to Baird and Peterson (EC 617 085) suggests that the original authors' conceptions of family-centered philosophy and intervention in parent-child interaction are inaccurate. They note the importance of parent-child interactions and the need for intervention procedures to be based on the parent-child interaction literature. (DB)

Notes that research has demonstrated the importance of parent-child interactions in developing literacy. Claims that parent literacy programs are effective in the children's literacy development. Proposes that research on the value of extensive interventions can suggest ways to improve parents' interactions with their children during the literacy…

Interviews with eight families showed that literacy materials and goals for using literacy differed between middle and working class families, with middle class families drawing on more resources to learn about the child's classroom. However, all families expressed value for literacy activities, challenging the myth that working-class families do…