This paper lists practices recommended by the Council for Exceptional Children's Division for Early Childhood in the area of family participation in early intervention and early childhood special education (EI/ECSE) programs for infants and young children with special needs and their families. An introduction to the quality indicators points out…

Participant observation and intensive interviews of fifty people from a rural midwestern community provided information on the importance of women in women's organizations and in behind-the-scenes arenas of local politics and economics. Bringing women into community studies expands the concept of community into private, familial arenas where…

Reviews experiences of psychiatric patients in the community. Argues that deinsitutionalization and community treatment of the most needy patients have failed because these movements did not address the sociocultural reasons for institutionalization. Presents economic, clinical, and social hypotheses about why failures have occurred. (Author/MJL)

This article proposes that schools take on the role of coordinating intervention efforts with school-age children who exhibit antisocial behavior patterns. Collaboration with families and social service agencies is urged. A generic prevention/intervention approach for reducing antisocial behavior risk factors is suggested, with recommendations for…

Claims that children's peer relations are significant in their social, cognitive, and moral development, and are correlated to later problems in social adjustment. Includes a brief historical perspective on the subject, and explores direct and indirect influences. Claims that peer relations develop within ecological frameworks, and identifies the…

Summarizes four projects that attempt to use cultural resources for instruction, each in a unique way. Suggests that these projects serve as catalysts to challenge the status quo by creating conditions and activities for novel uses of literacy. Highlights the important mediating functions of literacy, especially in two languages, in helping…

An interview with Christopher Schenk, Britain's Inspector of Schools, reveals his impressions of the differences and similarities of early childhood education in Britain and the United States. Topics included teaching methods, at-risk children, standardized tests, early intervention, family involvement in the schools, funding, and health care.…

Schedules, characteristics, and wellness needs of community college students are often very different from those of traditional college students, and wellness programs at these institutions have an important impact on students' lives, both during and after the college experience. Issues to be considered include assessment of the needs of a diverse…

This commentary on "The Effects of Family-Centered Service Coordination: A Social Validity Study" (Romer), discusses findings that the three service coordinators did not change their behavior to be more family-centered after one workshop and that it took follow-up work to get their behaviors to a minimal level of performance. (CR)

This article urges educators and administrators to collaborate closely with families of students with disabilities from diverse linguistic, racial, and cultural backgrounds and participate in training activities that stress best practices for facilitating the participation of the family. The role of the Individualized Education Program in forging…

All adults are needed to support and advocate for kids to provide a solid base on which they can grow. Gifted children are no exception. In order to effectively advocate for gifted children, one must know about national, state, and local laws and about policies providing effective programming and services for this population of students.…

This article talks about the future of family involvement in schools in African-American communities. The future of family involvement in the schools rests with today's teachers and parents who will take what they learned from the past, establish the philosophical foundations to guide their interactions, incorporate child and family theory and…

While Europe is experiencing new transnationalism based on technical economic links, European preschool education is not as accommodating to multicultural growth as economic growth has been. In many schools, children are forced to learn and interact in a language foreign to them. This break with their mother tongue is also a break with maternal…

The increasing number of individuals infected with symptomatic human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection has created a need to examine public policy issues and to further efforts in planning, implementing, and evaluating services for individuals with HIV infection and their families. A working conference was convened, which identified several…

Considers the relationship between disability and cultural diversity in a discussion of parent perceptions and participation, disability as a culturally and socially constructed phenomenon, differing ways of dealing with a disability, and differing methods of communication. Recommendations based on research and practice are offered. (DB)