The "IDRA Newsletter" serves as a vehicle for communication with educators, school board members, decision-makers, parents, and the general public concerning the educational needs of all children across the United States. The focus of this issue is "Authentic Family & Community Engagement." Contents include: (1) Recent…

Because researchers know so much more about the brain and development than they did when the 20th-century U.S. education system was designed, this knowledge can now be used to design a system in which all individuals are able to take advantage of high-quality opportunities for transformative learning and development. This playbook suggests a set…

How can you help preschoolers with autism thrive in inclusive classrooms? Support their success with this comprehensive, school-based program for children ages 3 to 5 with autism spectrum disorder. Blending best practices from applied behavior analysis and early childhood special education, the DATA Model is a proven program rooted in…

For family engagement to improve student learning, a wide range of stakeholders--from parents to principals to teachers--must share responsibility in developing, implementing, and assessing their school district's family engagement strategy. In order to help each of these stakeholder groups define their roles, superintendents and central…

This article describes a conceptual framework for developing a multifaceted, individualized treatment program for young children who stutter, their families, and their preschool or day-care staff. Suggestions are provided for reducing environmental demands through education, affective support, and behavior change facilitation. Direct therapy…

Emphasizing that reading aloud is a way to show children how to handle books and give them chances to talk about those stories, this manual provides several activities that reinforce parents' belief that they are their children's first and best teacher. The activities also reaffirm and validate their prior knowledge about reading and its benefits.…

This guide assists in establishing a collaborative unit or a task group to deliver services to children and youth with serious emotional disabilities and their families. The guide is not intended to be an exhaustive manual, but does address the primary activities of professionals using interagency collaboration to establish comprehensive systems…

This document includes a final report, manual, and booklets from a project conducted to develop an instructional video program and related print materials, combined with literacy training, peer sharing, and reading practice opportunities targeted to families of young children in which at least one member is deaf. In the video program, vignettes…

As an effort to supplement the science which is taught in schools, this document describes the development and implementation of five out-of-school short courses for middle school children and their parents. The courses meet on Saturdays for five weeks and are intended to be taught at informal science learning sites such as zoos, science museums,…

The Division for Early Childhood (DEC) of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) has developed recommended practices for the ECSE field in the area of personnel preparation. This book provides guidance to higher education faculty and professional development specialists on how these recommended practices can be implemented in preservice and…