This study of 78 mothers of mentally retarded children and adults found that respite care acts as a differential service that can enhance coping resources and is of most benefit to high self-esteem mothers of young developmentally disabled children, especially as a home-based model. (Author/JDD)

Parents of 25 infants/toddlers with handicaps were surveyed to gain perspectives on easing the transition from home-based infant programs to preschool programs. Analysis of the results led to 4 major recommendations and a series of steps that infant program staff can follow to facilitate transition to preschool program options. (JDD)

Practitioners, researchers, and policy makers have attempted to improve the delivery of in-home service to the frail elderly through the expansion or merger of existing care providers or through the creation of coordinating units. To investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of a third approach to in-home services, 68 older adults (mean age,78…

A survey of 74 pharmacy schools found under half offered home intravenous (IV) therapy instruction. About 13 percent offered a course primarily devoted to home IV therapy; only two schools required it. Clinical departments were the primary providers, and various instructional resources were used. Additional home health care coursework is…

Although the effectiveness of home-based, behaviorally-oriented treatment programs with the elderly and their families has been well documented, assessment of caregivers' attitudes toward those programs remains rare. To assess the relationship between outcome measures and client and principal caregiver characteristics, 21 client-caregiver dyads,…

Evaluates the Family Program, a family-centered program in northern Virginia which provides intensive in-home support and treatment to families with children in the custody of county child welfare departments. The sample comprises 42 closed cases. Results show that families that are at risk benefit significantly from extensive support systems.…

This monograph reports achievements of the SKI*HI project, a 3-year outreach project to improve access and development of services to presently unserved or underserved infants and young children with hearing impairments as well as to provide leadership and technical assistance to agencies implementing the SKI*HI model. The project provided direct…

This final report describes activities of Project INSITE, a 3-year home intervention program delivering services to infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with deaf blindness or other multidisability sensory impairments. The family centered model features the use of early intervention professionals known as parent advisors who visit homes weekly to…

Paraprofessionals provided informal social support to 92 low-income parents during pregnancy and for a year afterward. Mother-infant interaction was better at four months in the home-visited families than in controls, especially with teen and Hispanic mothers. Positive and irritable or fearful mothers appeared to benefit more than passive or…

This practicum addresses the problem of limited interaction between physical therapists and families of developmentally delayed/physically impaired preschool-age children. A program was developed in which the physical therapist was videotaped handling and exercising a child, while explaining the purpose of the movements and instructing the parent…

Home-based consultations about homework were conducted over a 12-week period with nine families of elementary students with mild handicaps to determine the extent to which consultations increased academic responding time, and to document home and school factors that contribute to work incompletion problems. The intervention was implemented by…

A communication program was implemented with the families of three adolescents with behavior problems. Skill teaching resulted in parent-adolescent dyads learning to use the skills in the teaching setting, but competent use of the skills in the home was not observed until an in-home family conference phase was implemented. (Author/JDD)

Nine gifted learning-disabled children with organizational skill deficits were put on a structured timetable of after-school activities. Parents were taught behaviorally based discipline techniques designed to reduce disruptive family behavior. Improvements were subsequently observed in the middle school students' home and school behavior, school…

The project evaluated the effectiveness of using Total Communication (simultaneous use of sign language and speech) with six infants with Down syndrome as a means of fostering communication while verbal skills and articulatory proficiency develop. Each child was seen within the home environment every second week through 24 months of age and once a…

The monograph reports on two surveys conducted by the Open University (United Kingdom) to evaluate the likely consequences of the university's new home computing policy (which requires access to a microcomputer for certain courses) on students with disabilities. A telephone survey was taken of 23 disabled students, and questionnaires were…