Effects Of Early Intervention Program Research Articles

Success in early intervention: the Chicago child-parent centers

This book is a valuable source of information on the long-term effects of early intervention programs on the education of children living in economically disadvantaged areas and in other contexts. Early intervention programs such as Head Start enjoy popular and legislative support, but until now, policymakers and practitioners have lacked hard data on the long-term consequences of such locally and federally mandated efforts. Success in Early Intervention focuses on the Child-Parent Center (CPC) program in Chicago, the second oldest (after Head Start) federally funded early childhood intervention program. Begun in 1967, the program currently operates out of twenty-four centers, which are located in proximity to the elementary schools they serve. The CPC program's unique features include mandatory parental involvement and a single, sustained educational system that spans preschool through the third grade. Central to this study is a 1986 cohort of nearly twelve hundred CPC children and a comparison group of low income children whose subsequent activities, challenges, and achievements are followed through the age of fifteen. The lives of these children amply demonstrate the positive long-term educational and social consequences of the CPC program. Arthur J. Reynolds is a professor of social work, educational psychology, and child and family studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Partnering to expand the frontiers of child and youth health

The Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS) has the good fortune of participating in Beyond 2000: Healthy Tomorrows for Children and Youth, a collaborative annual meeting, with the Canadian Academy of Child Psychiatry and the Canadian Institute of Child Health. We believe that meeting with other groups, as we have done in recent years, helps improve the scientific quality of our annual meeting. With your help, we will evaluate this process to see whether we are correct. The focus for the scientific program is the current hot topic in paediatrics: the mental health of infants, children and adolescents. As well, we will have high quality, evidence-based paediatric presentations on a broad range of topics that will interest both CPS members and nonmembers alike. The outcome-based, scientific presentations will attempt to cover as wide a range of current paediatric topics as possible. The program will feature a much broader base than usual, as we focus not only on individual and family health problems but also on population health and its multiple determinants. The Canadian Institute of Child Health, with their interest in many of the determinants of health, plays a key role in achieving this unique breadth of program. Many areas of infant, child and youth health will be discussed in the 28 or so workshops and plenary sessions that have been added to our usual high quality educational program. Workshop topics include: “Effective early intervention programs” by Dr Harriet Macmillan; “Asperger disorder” by Dr William Mahoney; “Supporting parents of children with chronic conditions” by Dr Peter Rosenbaum; “National training initiative in adolescent health” by Dr Roger Tonkin; “Impact of infant nutrition” by Dr Doris Yuen and many others. Practitioners will be familiar with many of the speakers, several of whom have been published in Paediatrics & Child Health. All of the above will be in addition to the usual CPS content at an annual meeting. The interdisciplinary nature of the program offers an opportunity to network with others in the field of child and adolescent health. It represents how integrated care in this millennium will be delivered from the universities and hospitals out to the community, including the paediatricians’ office and community health organizations. This meeting will also offer MAINCERT credits from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and MAINPRO credits from the College of Family Physicians of Canada, which will be recognized for the 80 required credits in the forthcoming academic year (January 1, 2001 to January 1, 2002). I am looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible in Ottawa, from June 14 to 18, for this unique, high quality educational program.

Early Childhood Intervention Personnel Preparation

The centerpiece of my vision for personnel preparation is a well paid, well-educated early childhood intervention workforce situated in "learning communities" whereby parents, practitioners, administrators, consultants, and university and community college faculty are mutually accountable for creating quality early environments for children. Personnel preparation is an ongoing part of the fabric of daily work. The driving force behind the content and specific personnel preparation activities is the basic question, "What do we need to know and do to improve the outcomes for all young children?" I suggest that currently we do not have the resources or the policies in place to support such a vision. I further suggest that grassroots public support for early childhood intervention could be achieved through the kind of "learning communities" envisioned in the opening vignette of this article. I suggest that there are three areas where changes are critical in order to create "learning communities": (1) increasing collaboration among multiple partners at multiple levels; (2) attending to diversity issues; and (3) promoting family involvement in personnel preparation. Without a shared vision and commitment to early childhood intervention at the community level, we will continue to operate with a massive gap between what we know from research and how we practice. We know what constitutes an effective personnel preparation system, just like we know what makes an effective early childhood intervention program. The question is can that information be shared in ways that make the need for changes in policies and practices undeniable? It will take a nation of informed "learning communities" to make my vision a reality.

Behavioral and Psychosocial Profiles of Alcohol‐Exposed Children

It is widely known that prenatal alcohol exposure is related to cognitive and behavioral deficits throughout childhood and adolescence. Much research has focused on understanding and quantifying the cognitive profile of children with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) with relatively less empirical research on behavioral or psychosocial adjustment. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the behavioral and psychosocial profile of children exposed to heavy amounts of alcohol prenatally. Two groups of subjects were evaluated: an alcohol-exposed group (ALC) and a nonexposed control group (NC) each made up of 32 subjects matched for age, gender, and ethnicity. The alcohol-exposed group consisted of children heavily exposed to alcohol in utero, including 19 children diagnosed with FAS. The Personality Inventory for Children (PIC) was completed by the caretaker of each child. Four validity/screening scales and 12 clinical scales were scored for all subjects. Analyses revealed significant group differences on four validity/screening scales and 12 substantive scales. Within the ALC group, the profile of children without FAS was similar to that of children with FAS, with the exception that their profiles were consistent with less cognitive impairment. These findings indicate that in addition to previously reported cognitive impairments, heavy prenatal alcohol exposure is related to significant impairments in psychosocial functioning. Even children without alcohol-related physical anomalies suffer from impaired psychosocial functioning. Because impairments of this nature can interfere with functioning across multiple domains, effective early intervention programs should be considered for families of alcohol-exposed children. Furthermore, given the similarities of alcohol-exposed children with and without FAS, it is imperative to obtain prenatal alcohol exposure histories on all children experiencing cognitive or psychosocial deficits.

Effect of an early intervention program on the relationship between subjective pain and disability measures in nurses with low back injury.

The effect of a workplace-based early intervention program on perceptions of pain and disability in nurses with low back injury was studied using a preintervention versus postintervention design with concurrent control group. To examine the relationship and changes over time between pain and disability measures in two groups of back-injured nurses--those who received the early intervention program (study) and those who were not offered the program (control). The relationship between back pain and disability is not straightforward. The effects of an intervention program on changes in perceptions of pain and disability over time have not been widely reported. The Oswestry Low Back Disability Questionnaire and a visual analog pain scale were administered to 46 study nurses and 137 control nurses at time of injury and at 6 months after injury. Correlation and regression analyses were used to explore the relationships between the two measures. Changes over time were compared with analyses of variance. Pain and disability were positively correlated in both groups at time of injury and at follow-up evaluation. Mean scores for pain and disability were lower at follow-up evaluation than at initial injury in both groups; study nurses had significantly (P < 0.01) lower scores at 6 months than nurses in the control group. Disability at time of injury predicted disability at 6 months only for nurses in the control group. This workplace-based early intervention program decreased levels of pain and disability in back-injured nurses and altered the relationship between these two variables over a 6-month time interval.

The Need for Effective Early Behavioural Family Interventions for Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

AbstractThere is a pressing need for the development of effective early family intervention programs for children showing Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) behaviours with Conduct Disorder (CD) or Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) behaviours. Previous research has indicated that children with ADHD are at high risk of developing comorbid CD or ODD behaviours. In addition, it has been shown that ODD or CD behaviours in childhood tend to persist and to have adverse effects on later social adjustment. However, ODD or CD behaviours are not necessary concomitants of ADHD, and it has been demonstrated that behavioural intervention can have both short- and long-term beneficial effects for children showing early signs of ODD or CD behaviours. In the short term, behavioural family interventions may be able to reduce oppositional behaviour, particularly in the preschool years. In the long term, early intervention has been shown to reduce the incidence of later antisocial behaviour in children at risk for this developmental trajectory. In this paper, it will be argued that behavioural family interventions have not been effectively utilised or promulgated in the community for children with ADHD despite the demonstrated efficacy of these types of interventons. A model of a multilevel system of intervention that can be tailored to the individual family's needs is presented.

Using Research to Improve the Cost Effectiveness of Early Intervention Programs

Since the implementation of Public Law 99457, the number of children served by early intervention programs has increased substantially. This article describes the d e s of advocacy and science in contributing to that expansion. A biosocial systems model of early development is used to explain how comparative experimental research can help to improve the cost effectiveness of early intervention programs. Examples of the benefits of such research are taken from the other articles reported in this issue of Early Education and Development.

The Next Decade of Research on the Effectiveness of Early Intervention

The effectiveness of early intervention programs for children with developmental disabilities and for children at biologic risk was reviewed and analyzed. A general pattern indicating important effects of early intervention programs was noted, with effect sizes averaging between one-half and three-quarters of a standard deviation. The ability of early intervention programs to minimize declines in development was identified as a significant outcome. The effects of specific program features--age of start and family involvement--were selected for more detailed examination, and the moderating influence of the levels of severity of children's disabilities was also analyzed. Future directions for improving the effectiveness of early intervention include using the emerging knowledge of biobehavioral and child development research, as well as enhancing children's social competence.

Alternative therapies and developmental disabilities

Journal of Paediatrics and Child HealthVolume 26, Issue 4 p. 188-189 Free Access Alternative therapies and developmental disabilities P. J. Graves FRACP, P. J. Graves FRACP Senior Lecturer, Monash University Department of Paediatrics, Monash Medical Centre, Clayton Road, Clayton, Vic. 3168, Australia.Search for more papers by this author P. J. Graves FRACP, P. J. Graves FRACP Senior Lecturer, Monash University Department of Paediatrics, Monash Medical Centre, Clayton Road, Clayton, Vic. 3168, Australia.Search for more papers by this author First published: August 1990 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1754.1990.tb02425.xCitations: 2AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. References 1 Robertson D. A. F., Ayres R. C. S., Smith C. L., Wright R. Adverse consequences arising from misdiagnosis of food allergy. Brit. Med. J. 1988; 297: 719– 20. 2 Report of the Board of Science and Education. Alternative Therapy. British Medical Association, London . 1986. 3 Simeonsson R. J., Cooper D. H., Schneiner A. P. A review and analysis of the effectiveness of early intervention programs. Pediatrics. 1982; 69: 635– 41. 4 Piper M. C., Kunos V. I., Willis D. M., Mazer B. L., Ramsay M., Silver K. M. Early physical therapy effects on the high risk infant: a randomized controlled trial. Paeditrica 1986; 78: 218– 24. 5 Bax M. Aims and outcomes of therapy for the cerebral-palsied child. Dev. Med. Child Neurol. 1986; 28: 695– 6. 6 Potatajko H. J. A critical look at vestibular dysfunction in learning disabled children. Dev. Med. Child Neurol. 1985; 27: 283– 92. 7 Mercer J. Social system perspective and clinical perspective: frames of reference for understanding career patterns of persons labelled as mentally retarded. Soc. Problem 1965; 13: 18– 34. 8 Nirje B. The basis and logic of the normalization principle. Aust. N.Z. J. Dev. Disab. 1985; 11: 65– 8. 9 McMillan D., Jones R. L., Aloia G. F. The mentally retarded label: a theoretical analysis and review of research. Amer. J. Ment. Defic. 1974; 79: 241– 61. 10 Jankinson J. C. School and disability: research and practice in integration. Aust Educ. Rev. 1987; 26. 11 Bax M. Intervention — The doctor's job. Dev. Med. Child Neurol. 1985; 27: 281– 82. 12 Russell D. J., Rosenbaum P. L., Cadman D. T., Gowland C., Hardy S., Jarvis S. The gross motor function measure: a means to evaluate the effectiveness of physical therapy. Dev. Med. Child Neurol. 1989; 31: 341– 52. 13 Carlberg C., Kavale K. The efficacy of special versus regular class placement for exceptional children: a meta-analysis. J. Special Educ. 1980; 14: 295– 309. 14 School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. A Manual of Standards for Community Health. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra . 1985. 15 Community Services Victoria, Office of Intellectual Disability Services. Standards for Residential Services. Government Printer, Melbourne . 198. Citing Literature Volume26, Issue4August 1990Pages 188-189 ReferencesRelatedInformation

The Impact on Family Scale: An Adaptation for Families of Children With Handicaps

An adapted version of the Impact on Family Scale (IFS), a 33-item rating scale for measuring the impact of the handicapped child on adult family members and siblings, was completed by 49 mothers of children between 36 and 64 months of age enrolled In early intervention programs. The internal consistency coefficient was found to be .86. Correlations of the Adapted IFS total score and IFS factor scores with relevant criterion measures supported the validity of the scores from the adapted scale for measuring the impact of the handicapped child on the family. The results of this study suggest the potential utility of the adapted IFS for assessing the effects of early intervention programs on families.

Naturalistic Inquiry and the Assessment of Young Handicapped Children and Their Families

Naturalistic inquiry is presented as an alternative to traditional assessment and experimental methodologies for measuring the effects of early intervention programs upon young handicapped children and their families. The use of naturalistic procedures, such as participant observation and interviews, is discussed and the inductive nature of the naturalistic method is highlighted. An illustrative study of the maternal perceptions of the diagnostic process involving handicapped and health-impaired infants is briefly described and the potential strengths and weaknesses of the naturalistic approach, as reflected by this study, are examined. Finally, suggestions are offered for uses of naturalistic procedures either alone or in combination with quantitative approaches in early intervention research with families.

Selecting Outcome Measures in Early intervention

Although outcome measures are necessary to document the effectiveness of early intervention programs, researchers and practitioners have often failed to relate outcome measures to Intervention program objectives, have not considered educational as well as statistical significance, and have failed to articulate a conceptual framework which links outcome measures to a child's developmental status at the end of intervention. This paper proposes specific guidelines for the selection of outcome measures and provides a brief rationale for each.

Eco-Behavioral Assessment

The effectiveness of early intervention programs has been an area of controversy since the early 1960s. Unfortunately, many in the academic community and the general public remain unconvinced that spending government funds for the education of young handicapped children is an effective use of public resources. Research has been limited to the measurement of singular outcomes (e.g., changes in the behavior and/or adjustment of the handicapped students or parents that have been the targets of intervention). This paper proposes a methodological expansion in evaluation research, an ecobehavioral approach, that has been used recently in teacher effectiveness studies within elementary grade classrooms. The paper discusses the implications of using the eco-behavioral approach in the evaluation of preschool programs for the handicapped. It argues that this methodology will allow both (a) determination of early intervention effectiveness and (b) specification of factors that are responsible for this effectiveness.

Relationship between the mother’s characteristics and her performance of treatment programmes for her handicapped infant

Maternal characteristics of 25 mothers measured by questionnaire scales and their performance of their infants’ physiotherapy treatment activities were correlated to determine the nature of this relationship. The results showed that mothers with positive attitudes, internal locus of control and middle socioeconomic status tend to perform their infants’ treatment activities better than do mothers with negative attitudes, external locus of control and low socioeconomic status.The results also add support to the idea that if professionals involved in early intervention programmes are to help the child in a meaningful and effective way, they should be aware not only of the child’s developmental status, but also of the mother's mental or emotional status and be prepared to provide help in the lacking areas.The findings also indicate that the effectiveness of early intervention programmes will not only depend on the type of therapeutic techniques utilized but on the mother. The mother’s attitude was the main contributor to how well she performed her infant’s treatment activities.

Primary prevention of developmental retardation during infancy.

This review examines eighteen exemplary prevention-oriented early intervention programs designed for high-risk and normal infants. The target populations, the form of the program delivery, and the content of the curriculum are described. Issues in the design and methodology of such programs are discussed. The review also summarizes continuing and delayed effects of early intervention programs with an emphasis on those projects that had a follow-up evaluation phase. Finally, three theoretical perspectives are presented. These perspectives have important implications for infant program planning and evaluation from which recommendations are made for future programs designed for high-risk infants.

A Review and Analysis of the Effectiveness of Early Intervention Programs

A review was made of 27 studies describing early intervention for biologically impaired infants and young children. Although every study provided some type of documentation of outcome, most studies failed to meet common criteria for scientific research, such as specification of inclusion criteria, documentation of reliability, random assignment, and/or the use of control/contrast groups. Studies were grouped into four classifications on the basis of experimental design as follows: retrospective, prospective-no control group, prospective-control/contrast group, and prospective-random group assignment. A comparative analysis was made of the effectiveness of findings on the basis of statistical evidence and clinical support. Statistical procedures were used in 59% of the studies and statistical support for the effectiveness of early intervention was reported in 48% of the studies. Effectiveness on the basis of subjective, clinical conclusions was reported in 93% of the studies. Implications of the discrepancy between effectiveness based on statistical evidence and clinical conclusions are discussed.

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.