This regular feature of "Reaching Today's Youth" provides information designed to enable individuals to facilitate one- to two-hour training sessions appropriate for teachers, other professionals, and parents who want to increase their understanding of working effectively with students with challenging behaviors. This volume focuses on specific…

Based upon the view that parents, home visitors, and teachers in early childhood settings need tools for empowering young children to develop language, this paper examines what adults need to know to guide young children's language development and presents 20 suggestions for enhancing language growth. The paper maintains that adults need to know…

Strategies are presented for recruiting family members from minority groups to be involved in the formation of policies and development of programs that affect their lives and those of their young children with disabilities. Organizational strategies, strategies to empower family members, logistical strategies, and process strategies are…

This article provides a rationale for the use of choice in home and school environments, advocates for the systematic and careful use of choice as an intervention strategy, provides examples for embedding choice, and discusses guidelines for use and factors that may limit the use of choice. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Presents practical suggestions for encouraging empowerment in young children. Describes how a shift in the instructional focus from teaching to empowering can be incorporated throughout the school day. Emphasizes that children's qualities, such as kindness, helpfulness, and flexibility, must be encouraged and noted equally as often as tangible…

This article explores components of family-centered care and challenges professionals encounter as they work with families in which abuse/neglect is suspected or is occurring. Strategies for working with families in a family-centered manner that promotes a sense of empowerment in family members, while ensuring the safety of children, are offered.…

This article considers the needs of families of children with disabilities, the implications for interdisciplinary practice, and the changing pattern of early childhood disability. Family contributions to individuals with disabilities, the importance of early intervention, and the need for professionals to enable and empower families is…

Six articles discuss the relationship between parents and teachers: (1) "Creating Partnership with Families: Problem-Solving Through Communication" (Keyser); (2) "Changing Our Attitudes and Actions in Working With Families" (Hilliard and Pelo); (3) "Including Parents in the Process of Documentation" (Hall, Oleson, and Gambetti); (4) "Empowering…

Presents a hypothetical dilemma illustrating the need for parent empowerment in early childhood education for use in applying the National Association for the Education of Young Children's Code of Ethics. Considers including parents in important decisions, honoring responsibilities to parents, and implementing the spirit of the code. Discusses…

Acknowledges that children with special needs flourish and benefit from early-childhood environments that empower learning. Discusses center learning, which allows children to be actively engaged in self-directed learning based on strength, ability, and interest. Suggests that center learning can enhance aspects related to emergent literacy…