This special issue of a periodical focuses on building support and resources for families of children with special needs. It contains 13 articles in addition to descriptions of 10 programs serving special needs families at the local level, a list of 15 resource organizations and 10 publications/audiovisual aids, and a message from the coalition's…

The book defines and discusses eight key elements of a family-centered approach to care for children with chronic illnesses and special health care needs: (1) recognition that the family is the constant in the child's life, while the service systems and personnel within those systems fluctuate; (2) facilitation of parent/professional collaboration…

A reading program carried out at the Afro-American Studies Resource Center in Roxbury, Massachusetts, is evaluated in this paper. The program's overall intent was to improve reading skills through improved self concept. The fifty-eight black and brown children who participated were in grades 2, 3, and 4 of the Boston public schools and were six…

The goal of the Families Learning Together Program is to design, systematize, field test, evaluate and publish a dual-focus curriculum for teaching adults and children. Adult basic education, parenting, and daily life skills were to be taught to adults as these adults simultaneously taught their children attitudes and skills of the program are…

This report presents a description of the Jackson, Michigan site of the Child and Family Resource Program (CFRP), Head Start-affiliated program designed to promote community and family involvement in fostering optimum development of preschool children. The Jackson site is one of 11 demonstration sites of the national CFRP. The local program was…

The article describes activities of two education guidance centers in England providing short-term help to behavior disordered students ages 3-15. Program features include classroom-based intervention, individual and group therapy, interim special class placement, and work with families. Assessment and intervention practices are summarized, and…

The Sensory Impaired Home Intervention (SKI*HI) Model provides services for rural, hearing impaired children at an average annual cost of $1,400 per child. Weekly home visits are provided by nearby or local part time parent advisors, thus minimizing travel costs and eliminating employment problems associated with long travel hours. (JHZ)

Recognizing that families have played an essential role in the Head Start philosophy since the program's inception, the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) is an effort to develop a descriptive profile of families participating in the Head Start program and services, as well as to develop, test, and refine Program Performance…

The "Research in Practice Series" is published four times each year by Early Childhood Australia. The series aims to provide practical, easy to read, up-to-date information and support to a growing national readership of early childhood workers. The books bring together the best information available on wide-ranging topics and are an…

School counselors agree that for school counseling programs to be successful, parent participation is essential. Involving parents in designing a school counseling program increases the chances that the counseling objectives will be reinforced at home. One effective strategy used by the Dorchester School District in South Carolina is conducting a…

This research brief uses data collected by the Center for Policy Research on the Impact of General and Special Education Reform to highlight issues surrounding the inclusion and exclusion of students with disabilities in state accountability systems. The brief discusses the background of standards-based reform, traditional general education…

Current research reveals that schools, families, and communities need strong leadership if they are going to shift away from the traditional models of involvement in which school personnel dominate the interactions. When school leaders create conditions that foster collaborative relationships among the school, families, and the community, the…

Commonly, when parents attempt to talk to their teenagers about school, the response is short and uninformative. Adults, whether teachers or family members, have taken this resistance as a sign of rejection. However, research in this field shows that, in fact, teenagers do want to interact with their parents, as well as other adults, and have them…

Contrasts a group of informal kinship care providers in Philadelphia (KIDS'n'KIN Program) with two "formal" kinship care groups in Baltimore and California, examining similarities and differences in child and caregiver demographies and service needs. Presents the program's response to the needs of informal kinship care providers.…

Expectations for family involvement and professional behavior are different when working with families of children who use adaptive technology than they are with families of other children with special needs. The article addresses some of the differences, describing family and professional roles in assessment, interpersonal communication,…