The result of a collaboration between the El Paso, Texas, school district and community agencies, the Focus on First Graders program provides early intervention and prevention using a comprehensive approach to providing a variety of services at the school to at-risk first graders from low income families. Teachers and parents were surveyed to…

This study gathered information on the certification, licensure, and/or credentialing processes of professional disciplines involved in service delivery to infants, toddlers, and preschool children with special needs, as legislated by Parts H and Part B of Public Law 99-457. The 10 disciplines targeted in the national survey were special…

These two newsletters focus on two issues concerning full inclusion for young children with disabilities: the debate over developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) in inclusive preschool classrooms, and optimal classroom environments for inclusive early childhood settings. The first newsletter includes: a review of three articles addressing DAP;…

This ERIC digest focuses on students who are commonly described as shy (inhibited, lacking in confidence, socially anxious) or withdrawn (unresponsive, uncommunicative, or daydreaming). Symptoms of shyness or withdrawal may appear as part of the student's overall personality or as a situation-specific response to a particular stress factor.…

A social skills training program for improving student behavior in art and music classes and in unstructured situations was developed and implemented during the second quarter of the 1993-1994 school year in two schools in Elgin, Illinois. The targeted classes included grades six through eight at St. Laurence School (part of the Rockford Catholic…

Ideas regarding the nature of appropriate and inappropriate behaviors and how to control them vary among teachers and can play an important role in classroom management. The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences between the beliefs of experienced and pre-service teachers regarding classroom management. Within this study,…

This federally funded project was designed to develop, implement, and evaluate a best practices inservice model to train teachers to provide services in least restrictive environments for preschool children with emotional/behavioral disorders. Through collaborative planning among the University of Minnesota and selected Minnesota public schools,…

This collection of papers recognizes ways in which the context of educational policy and its implications for practice have, in combination with other influences, defined early childhood special education and influenced its development. An introduction by Philip L. Safford is presented. Subsequent papers have the following titles and authors:…

Training modules are presented for speech-language pathologists developing communication programming for Kentucky students with severe, profound, and multiple handicaps. The modules were developed for use in 2-day workshops that specifically deal with communication strategies to enhance opportunities for increased participation and integration for…

Developed through a modified DACUM (Developing a Curriculum) process involving business, industry, labor, and community agency representatives in Ohio, this document is a comprehensive and verified employer competency profile for individual and family support services occupations. The list contains units (with and without subunits), competencies,…

A project that sought to describe current policies and practices for the recognition, identification, assessment, and provision for the needs of Scottish children with specific learning difficulties associated with literacy is described. Other aims were: to identify criteria used to judge the effectiveness of different approaches; to report on how…

As part of the Longitudinal Study of Children at Risk, this study evaluated the Child Parent Center (CPC) Program, a preschool to third grade intervention program funded by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Chapter I. Subjects were 915 low-income black children from 20 inner-city schools who were differentially exposed to…

This guide to early intervention services under Part H of Public Law 101-476 (the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) is intended to aid state legislators who have the primary responsibility to create and shape programs under this Act. Three aspects of Part H legislation are stressed: (1) requirement of unprecedented coordination among…

This bulletin issue contains five papers on the theme of adults with mental illness who are parents of very young children. "Parents, Mental Illness, and the Primary Health Care of Infants and Young Children" (John N. Constantino) offers the experience of a trainee in a combined residency in pediatrics and psychiatry, focusing on…

This collection of papers is designed to provide an overview of validated practices that have been proven effective for children with language learning disabilities, preschool age through adolescence. The first section addresses oral language interventions, in "Preschool Language Intervention in the Classroom: Rationale and Organizational…