Analyzes social theory as an antecedent to social policy, and social policy as an antecedent to social practice. The African-American family provides the basis for this examination. Social policy should be based on empirical observation as well as theory, and it should be population specific. (SLD)

Strategies for the adaptation of Head Start for the economic and social conditions of the future involve the linkage of early childhood and family support approaches with community economic development. Such strategies must include a reappraisal of mental health models to ensure the health of children and their families. (SLD)

Physical fitness of children with learning disabilities may be comparatively low. In a school-university cooperative program, four rural children with learning disabilities and their families participated in a 10-week fitness program that included nutrition education and family exercise activities. Results were positive and showed the need for…

Describes a South Carolina family-science program featuring nongraded recreational weekend programs conducted by experts at their facilities. The format allows in-depth presentation of topics using community resources, lets elementary students experience real applications of science and see scientists as role models, and strengthens parent/child…

Molly Stark School in Bennington, Vermont, is a year-round community school that offers a range of education, health and social services benefiting the students, community, and parents. Five successful initiatives (after-school, birth-to-5, mentoring, health and wellness, and parent literacy and involvement programs) are described. (MLH)

This article explores how providing early intervention in natural environments reinforces family-centered care, discusses benefits for all parties when therapy is provided within daily routines and settings, describes a decision-making process for embedding natural environments within intervention, and concludes by identifying challenges and…

Describes the evolution, implementation, maintenance, and evaluation of comprehensive school-based mental health services in the Dallas, Texas public schools. A collaboration between mental health services, other health services, and the schools established 10 Youth and Family Centers to serve local schools. Benefits and challenges to coordinated…

Ounce of Prevention in Schools, an early intervention program in a Quebec elementary school, includes a family support component to increase parents' involvement and assistance with their children's school work. Interviews showed that, compared to control parents, parents in the program helped their children more with homework but had lower…

A literature review of parent training programs on treating young children with behavioral problems indicates most programs used a social learning approach and that overall, the Eyberg and Webster-Stratton models held promise for direct service providers working with behavioral difficulties. Factors that influence a program's success are…

A study compared practice-level variables between two sites that have been implementing system-of-care (SOC) principles for at least 5 years and two traditional service systems. Overall, SOC sites scored significantly higher than non-SOC sites in the child-centered and family-focused, community-based, and cultural competence domains. (Contains…

Discusses how meaningful family involvement can enhance the efforts of early childhood teachers. Presents suggestions for creating inviting attitudes and environments. Identifies how schools and families benefit from family involvement. Describes ways to fund and staff family learning centers in schools. Asserts that parent outreach is the key to…

This commentary on "The Effects of Family-Centered Service Coordination: A Social Validity Study" (Romer), discusses findings that the three service coordinators did not change their behavior to be more family-centered after one workshop and that it took follow-up work to get their behaviors to a minimal level of performance. (CR)

Under the direction of the Pennsylvania Department of Migrant Education, an educational software company has adapted educational curricula to a video game format for use in video game consoles that hook into television sets. Migrant children using these at home have made significant gains in math, reading, English fluency, and critical thinking…

Healthy Families Alaska is a program that identifies families at risk of having children with poor health outcomes and provides intensive paraprofessional home visitation services specific to individual family needs and culturally relevant to Native families. Program goals, elements of effective home visitations, enrollment procedures, service…

Data were analyzed from 66 young children with autism served by 25 different early intervention consultants and receiving parent-managed interventions. Parent-managed intensive interventions resulted in progress for 60 children for mental age, adaptive behavior, and language skills. Interventions did not reproduce results from clinic-based…