This study evaluated the validity of language-assessment instruments with Native American children, ages 3 to 5. Results indicated that the Preschool Language Scale-3 provides a valid assessment of the receptive and expressive language skills of 3- and 4-year-old Native-American children. However, use of this scale with 5-year-old Native Americans…

This paper reports on a qualitative ethnographic research study on the inclusion of children with severe disabilities into a Montessori preschool program in Lawrence, Kansas. The program has served 20 children with disabilities since its inception in 1986. The program's emergent model involves a split program (utilizing a special education…

The report is the result of a 1981 research project commissioned by Australia's Commonwealth Department of Education to investigate early childhood education for Aborigines. The study encompassed the care and education of Aboriginal children from age 0 to age 5 in government and non-government school systems. The report is divided into three major…

Young children's nonverbal affective expression and communication reveals an emotional complexity and sensitivity which exceeds their verbal abilities. To investigate the development of nonverbal emotional communication in young children, two studies were undertaken. In the first study, equal numbers of 5- and 11-year-old children from two schools…

The educational systems among the European Community nations vary considerably and this variety, which is the result of historic and cultural factors, constitutes a great wealth which should be preserved. It is also in the interest of everyone to draw benefit from the experiences and projects of partner countries within the Community. Educational…

Preliminary findings of this research effort provide support for the hypothesis that existing databases maintained by federal agencies for administrative or monitoring purposes can serve as useful data sources in special education policy research. The research explored the relationships among a number of state-level special education, fiscal, and…

Part of a 10-year project that will follow five waves of educationally advantaged children from preschool through the fourth grade, this study examined the immediate effects of attending preschool on social competence. Once in the year prior to kindergarten entry and again near the conclusion of kindergarten, trained testers completed the…

Three undergraduate students were observed and trained through a two-way audio-video telecommunications system to use prescribed teaching tactics with preschool-aged handicapped children. Televised graphic feedback alone was insufficient in producing desired changes in teacher behavior, but televised graphic feedback plus televised verbal…

Summarizes the benefits of early childhood education programs offering new hope to disadvantaged children and long-range savings to taxpayers. Reviews major issues concerning public preschool education, including funding, eligibility, need for high quality programs with a child development emphasis, adequate staffing, and appropriate child and…

Comparisons were made in the conversations of 16 low income children in a preschool intervention program, a group of low income children not in the program, and a group of middle income children. Adults' conversational turns included three types of cognitively complex initiations. Results demonstrated a facilitating effect of day care…

Analyses of communicative exchanges among 64 playgroup children revealed that both 3-and 4-year-old nonhandicapped children adjusted the communicative function, style, and affective quality of their interactions when addressing mildly developmentally delayed companions. Adjustments were more closely related to interpersonal and social status…

Increasing evidence shows that fetal exposure to alcohol, cocaine, phenylcyclidine hydrochloride (PCP), and other drugs results in infants with abnormal neurologic findings. This suggests the need for longitudinal studies to determine whether such findings will translate into a significant number of children with learning and behavioral problems.…

Thirty-six children, aged four-five, completed four vocabulary measures: Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised, Picture Vocabulary subtest of the Test of Oral Language Development, Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test, and Receptive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test. Only moderate correlations were found among these tests, implying that a…

This study reports on the development and initial testing of the Preschool Speech Intelligibility Measure (PSIM), a single-word, multiple-choice intelligibility measure. The PSIM was adapted from the Assessment of Intelligibility of Dysarthric Speech and is designed to plot changes in children's intelligibility across time. (Author)

This study found that the Davis Observation Checklist for Texas, an observational teacher checklist for screening preschool children for communication disorders, demonstrated adequate sensitivity and specificity. The concurrent validity of the checklist was assessed with 59 multicultural children (ages 4 through 5), including Mexican Americans,…