Young Handicapped Children Research Articles

Extended families and young handicapped children

Extended families and young handicapped children

The Evaluation of Parent Intervention with Young Handicapped Children

The lack of a suitable technique and inadequate data from previous studies presents problems for the practitioner attempting to evaluate parent mediated intervention. Parent-training schemes tend to be either research oriented or service based. The evaluation of a long-term service presents difficulties while research work has limited application to studies of child change or parent–child interaction and attitude change. Teaching parents behavioural methods usually leads to positive child change therefore emphasis must now move to evaluating the teaching skills parents develop by being trained. Difficulties inherent in the use of multiple-success criteria and various modes of measurement are noted. Observational analysis, using V.T.R., is the most useful technique since it provides a direct record of the skills parents acquire. A practical system for evaluating parent behavioural training is suggested which can be adopted by the practitioner.

Effective programs for parents of young handicapped children

Effective programs for parents of young handicapped children

Impact of Early Programming for the Handicapped: A Follow-Up Study into the Elementary School

Follow-up data from school records, teacher ratings, and parent ratings were obtained for a sample of 86 handicapped children who had been enrolled during 1973-1979 in a preschool program organized by the Rural Champaign County Special Education Cooperative and the University of Illinois. Results indicate that, in general, these children made a successful transition into elementary school. Only 20% were in special education classrooms and only 15% had ever been retained. For children in regular classes. Stanine scores on standardized reading tests averaged 5.03. Teacher ratings paralleled the test data with ratings slightly higher in social versus academic areas. Special education children were rated somewhat lower by their teachers. For children in both regular and special education classes, parents reported that their child was performing adequately in school, and 93% felt that their child would not have done as well in kindergarten without participating in the preschool program. Positive impact of the parent program was also noted. These data indicate that a reversed mainstreamed preschool program which provides classroom instruction based on developmental assessment of functioning can provide young handicapped children with the social and academic skills needed to perform adequately within regular elementary school classes.

Parent Involvement in the Education of the Handicapped Child: A Review of the Literature

The purpose of this study was to provide a review of the literature reflecting parent involvement in the education of the young handicapped child. The impetus for the study resulted from the need to develop and test programs involving parents in the education of their children who were enrolled in a preschool program for handicapped children. This study provides a baseline of information for persons planning, developing, or evaluating programs in this area.

Consistency and Correspondence of Mothers' and Teachers' Assessments of Young Handicapped Children

Due to the recognition of the limitations of standardized, formal assessment instruments and the mandates of Public Law 94-142, teachers, direct care staff, and parents are becoming Involved in assessment of young handicapped children. If the evaluation and judgments of parents are to be valid sources of information about the child, the utility of clinical judgment must be documented. Typically, parents tend to overestimate their child's general intelligence or ability; however, this may be a function of the specific test, measure, or rating scale used. The study described in this article was designed to determine (a) the degree of correspondence between mothers' and teachers' ratings on the same version of the same assessment instrument and (b) the degree of correspondence between mothers' ratings across a period of time. The data support the reliability of maternal assessment and provide evidence for the contributions of parents to the assessment process in early intervention.

The Use of Developmental Test Data for Documenting Handicapped Children's Progress: Problems and Recommendations

Strategies for documenting progress of young handicapped children are summarized and discussed, with emphasis on the use of developmental test data for documentation of program impact. As small treatment effects are often the rule rather than the exception in educational programs for preschool handicapped children, the need for differentiated use of developmental test data is underscored. Possible methods for analysis of developmental test items are proposed within the context of growth patterns of handicapped children. These include consideration of range, density and scatter, and the ratio of pass-fail items. Implications of child progress data for program evaluation are discussed.

Teacher Perceptions of Time Requirements for Integrating Young Handicapped Children∗

Abstract “PATHWAYS: A Human Support System Model for Integrated Handicapped Children and Their Families” was a three‐year demonstration project to investigate supported integration as an option for the educational care of the young handicapped child. Specifically, this article reports on the question of the amount of time teachers spend with the handicapped child in an integrated or “mainstreamed” preschool classroom. Evidence, in the form of teacher reports, is presented to show that, within the context of this model, only slightly more teacher time is required by the special children than by the regularly enrolled children.

Inservice Training for the 1980's

Inservice training must be improved and expanded in the years ahead to meet the needs of those who work with young handicapped children. Recognizing and avoiding the problems of general inservice and viewing inservice as adult education with a content focus on the child provides a background for improving training. Inservice must be individualized by matching teacher needs with inservice options, Selecting experienced consultants to meet specific local needs and incorporating a variety of instructional strategies into training sessions can provide a positive direction for inservice in the 1980's.

Early Intervention and Pediatrics: Current Status and Future Directions

Significant changes in pediatric practice, thought, and education have led to increased involvement of pediatricians with young handicapped children and their families. This article examines the conditions that have led to these changes with special emphasis on the training needed by pediatricians to effectively serve handicapped children. Three national training programs are discussed to illustrate efforts in this area. Future directions and future problems regarding the physician-educator relationship are also considered.

Why the 'H' in ECEH? Considerations in Training Teachers of Young Handicapped Children

The purpose of this article is to examine one of the possible undesirable consequences of the trend toward mainstreaming handicapped young children, i.e., the increasing tendency to overlap the roles of regular and special education teachers to the extent that the educational programs for the two populations become the same. The differences between the populations of normal and handicapped young children are reviewed in terms of their implications for essential program characteristics. These are then used as the basis of a plea for recognizing and maintaining the unique characteristics of training programs that prepare personnel to work with young handicapped children.

The Needs of Early Childhood Education for The Handicapped: A Song for the 80's

In light of the reduction of support at the national level, the author suggests a renewed attention to seeking broad based local support for early identification and intervention with young handicapped infants and children. Issues discussed concern the need to locate more handicapped children at younger ages and to broaden the training base and role of the personnel who would serve them. A stance of optimism is suggested as the guiding principle for the next 4 years.

Assessing Young Handicapped Children: Issues and Solutions

This article addresses several issues, including (a) the relationship of research to the development of more effective identification, assessment, and intervention techniques for the young handicapped child; (b) the problems with current assessment techniques; (c) the ways in which assessment procedures may be strengthened; and (d) the development of the Competency Assessment Profile.

Developmental Diagnostic Reports: Reliable and Effective Alternatives To Guide Individualized Intervention

With the rise of mandated services for young handicapped children, school psychologists, early educators, and parents need to combine their efforts to accurately assess and program for them. The diagnostic psychoeducational report is a vital step in the process of clearly communicating information regarding child capabilities so that individualized interventions can be designed. However, descriptive research, as well as the criticisms of parents and teachers, suggests that traditional diagnostic reports are ineffective as guides to curriculum planning. This study employed in-service workshops and simulated exercises with groups of early childhood teachers ( N = 48) to evaluate the effective features of diagnostic reports that make them useful to teachers for individualized curriculum planning. Results support the advantages of using developmentally based reports to facilitate program planning. Suggestions for enhancing diagnostic reports are discussed.

Designing Instructional Activities for Young Handicapped Children

In the assessment and prescriptive teaching process, there is generally a one to one correspondence between goals and objectives and curricula. This approach, referred to as one objective-one activity teaching, has been especially successful in teaching new skills to handicapped children under 5 years of age, but it has largely failed in teaching the more severely handicapped of those children how to apply those skills to novel situations. This article examines the strengths and weaknesses of one objective-one activity teaching as well as those of haphazard teaching. It then proposes several new directions that encourage the variety and flexibility of haphazard teaching and the precision of one objective-one activity teaching in the design of activities for preschoolers with handicaps ranging from mild to severe.

Early Education Services for Children with Handicaps-Where Have We Been, Where Are We Now, and Where Are We Going?

There have been many sweeping changes in early education for handicapped children during the last 30 years. This article describes some of the developments in service delivery, parent/family participation, staffing roles, training, and product development during that time. Evidence of effectiveness of early intervention programs and Information on the cost of providing services is presented. The impact and capability of some early childhood model projects is discussed. Information on the need for services for young handicapped children and the availability of services is presented and the outlook for the future considered.

Alternative Administrative Strategies for Young Handicapped Children: A Policy Analysis

One of the major and puzzling omissions from the legislative blizzard for the handicapped in the 1960's and 1970's has been the preschool handicapped child, aged 0-3. The present policy analysis explores the preferences of three groups of interested persons in 10 program options that would provide services for young children. A group of educators, mental retardation specialists, and advocates all chose public education as the preferred agency to administer services for young handicapped children. Public education was identified as long standing and public funded and more likely to provide continued program support.

Coping, Stress, and Learning

Handicapped young children, because of their vulnerability, usually have less adaptive behaviors to cope with the stresses of daily living. This article defines and describes coping and stress, their relationship to learning, and how they are assessed for educational planning for preschool handicapped children. The Coping Inventory, an observation assessment instrument, is used to show how the teaching and leaming of coping behavior can be part of each child's educational plan.

A Discussion of Early Intervention for Infants with Down Syndrome

Recently, a physician-colleague brought to our attention an article entitled, "Early Intervention for Infants with Down Syndrome: A Controlled Trial," by Piper and Pless.1 Although it is encouraging to find that these investigators are exploring the parameters of early intervention with handicapped infants, some of their conclusions are of concern and have prompted the formulation of a response. In particular, we would like to discuss this article's findings in relation to (1) existing efficacy data that suggest early intervention with young handicapped children may be effective; and (2) methodologic weaknesses in the research design employed by Piper and Pless. A critical problem currently confronting the field of early intervention is the evaluation of the effectiveness of early programming for handicapped infants and their families. Major impediments to the documentation of program effects include the unsuitability of existing instrumentation for assessing the progress of handicapped infants and the scarcity of feasible evaluation research designs.2,3 To complicate matters further, randomly assigned control or untreated groups for comparison are rarely possible. Ethical concerns surrounding the withholding of services from infants assigned to control groups, coupled with recent state and federal mandates calling for the provision of educatinal services for all handicapped children of school age and permissive programming for the preschool child, are collectively operating to reduce and eventually eliminate available handicapped infants and children who might serve as non-intervention control subjects.4 Despite the design limitations associated with research involving young handicapped children, efficacy findings based on descriptive and quasi-experimental methodology do exist.

RIP: A cost‐effective parent‐implemented program for young handicapped children

The Regional Intervention Program (RIP) represents a pioneering effort in the utilization of parents as primary therapists for their own handicapped young children, as trainers of fellow parents, and as implementors of the program's daily operation. This paper describes the essential elements of the program model, including its unique management‐by‐objectives evaluation system based on principles and techniques borrowed from the industrial engineering sector. Data regarding documented program effectiveness are presented in summary form.