The Families Matter series of papers from the Harvard Family Research Project advances the concept of family-centered child care, advocating an approach to early childhood education that addresses the development of the child and family together. Grounded in family support principles, which build on family strengths and work from a community's…

The structure and function of family literacy programming in Illinois is examined in this two-part report. National models are reviewed to provide an understanding of research and practice in the field, and a framework is proposed for the systematic development and evaluation of family literacy programs. Based on visits to 19 sites (59% of the…

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 presents guidelines for evaluation of early childhood special education programs in North Dakota. Following an introduction, a section considers six general program goals including the significance of families, the need for developmentally appropriate and individually appropriate practice, preference for service delivery in…

The Family Resource Center (FRC), a recent concept in school-linked services, features a holistic approach to family-school-community collaboration. This practicum addresses four objectives: (1) to document baseline data on original FRC clients; (2) to develop a system for on-going case management facilitation; (3) to identify areas of…

This final report describes activities and accomplishments of Project Ta-Kos Outreach, a 3-year program to provide consultation and site-specific training for families, educators, and health care providers. Project Ta-kos, through its curriculum and training approach, was designed to increase the probability that children, ages birth through eight…

This study investigated the effects of a video-based training program on the quantity and quality of family involvement in special education, perceptions of both family members and educators concerning parental competence as team members, and family members' satisfaction with their own involvement, team processes, and decisions made by the team.…

This monograph reports the results of an effort to assess the experiences of family members and professionals who have received family/professional collaboration training and provides an evaluation of the training program and a discussion of the nature of collaboration. The fundamental concept underlying the training curriculum was the pairing of…

This package was developed through the outreach activities of Project STEPS (Sequenced Transition to Education in the Public Schools), which developed an early childhood transition model to facilitate the development of state and community-wide systems for transition. The package covers four major component areas of transition: interagency…

This curriculum is designed to enable youth and young adults with disabilities to gain greater personal control over their lives by providing them and their families with information and skills that support the exercise of self-determination. The youth/young adult family member with a disability is a full participant in all activities. The…

This manual provides guidelines for early childhood programs and public school systems wishing to establish or formalize a transition process to meet the needs of preschool children moving into the public school system, based on the STEPS (Sequenced Transition to Education in the Public Schools) model developed in Kentucky. The manual begins with…

This sourcebook assembles the results of research on educating homeless students and offers classroom strategies for people working with homeless students, providing training tools to strengthen programs and practices in schools and shelters. Chapter 1, "Increasing Awareness about Students Experiencing Homelessness," defines homelessness,…

This practicum developed a special program to serve the elementary school child who has a preschool sibling with a hearing impairment. A special book addressing the cognitive and emotional needs of the siblings was written and distributed to 35 children whose families were enrolled in a clinic-sponsored correspondence program and to 15 children…

This report highlights the progress of the 15 statewide family advocacy projects funded by the Center for Mental Health Services of the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration during the 1993 fiscal year. Section 1 provides an historical background and a summary of the interim report. A qualitative description of the…

This resource training manual for family advocacy workers is designed to help these workers meet the needs of families who care for adolescents with emotional disabilities. It is intended for use with a companion manual which focuses on the needs of youth themselves, and stresses that effective case management must integrally involve both youths…