The 12 chapters in this Australian text on early childhood education of children with special needs are organized into two parts, the foundations of early years education and programming for atypical developmental needs. The 12 chapters are: (1) "Fundamentals of Early Education" (Louise Porter); (2) "Collaborating with Parents"…

Designed for Spanish-speaking parents of students with disabilities living in Oregon, this brochure describes the general mediation process that parents can use to resolve special education services disputes with schools. It begins by discussing what mediation is and the characteristics of a trained mediator. It addresses the requirement for…

Designed for parents in Kentucky, this handbook describes the Kentucky primary program and provides information about how parents can work with schools during the transition from preschool to ensure that their children receive an appropriate education. Children with educational disabilities are served in a variety of ways in the primary program.…

Describes the partnership between the early childhood program at the University of Vermont and Parent to Parent of Vermont. The partnership was designed to set a context for preparation of family-centered practitioners by modeling the qualities of a collaborative relationship between families and professionals and by developing a family-centered…

This document presents one module in a set of training resources for trainers to use with parents and/or professionals serving children with disabilities; focus is on stress and support in the family. The modules present content and activities that build skills and offer resources to promote parent-professional collaboration. Each module takes…

Written for Canadian parents of young children with special needs, this handbook provides information on ways in which parents can work with professionals (physicians, teachers, other school staff, social workers, psychiatrists, psychologists) in selecting and monitoring services for their special needs child. The first section considers the…

The report is designed as a guideline for preservice and inservice teacher education programs and the New York local education agencies providing preschool services to handicapped children. A set of competencies was reviewed, rated and discussed by professionals in the field at two workshops and in consultation with preschool program…

Project KIT (Kids in Transition) of the Northern Trails Area Education Agency in Iowa assists in preparing for children's transition from early childhood special education programs to elementary regular/special education programs and transition from special education home intervention services to the preschool special education classroom. This…

This self-study guide facilitates evaluation of early childhood special education programs by providing a tool for identifying both strengths and areas for improvement. Steps are outlined for completing a program self-study. Then forms are offered for assessing the quality of specific program areas. A section on necessary relationships examines…

This study examined the advantages of using written language portfolios for authentic assessment in a third-grade special education classroom. Portfolios included data from students, teachers, parents, and the teacher's journal. Portfolios provided insights about how students thought about their writing, offered new understandings of parents'…

This article provides a case study of monocultural personnel preparation, discusses various cultural beliefs about disability, and examines the effect of the dualities and dichotomies of parent/professional beliefs about childhood disabilities. In addition, it discusses intervention concerns in developing countries such as Turkey, Ecuador, and…

The present study investigated specific teacher factors that potentially influence teacher-child relationships with preschool-age children. One demographic questionnaire and three rating scales were used to survey 152 head teachers of 3-6-year-old children in community-based childcare and preschool centers in one mid-western state. There were 46…

This book offers educators, parents, administrators, and other school personnel in the elementary and lower middle-school grades a basic understanding of what is involved in making inclusion work. In chapter 1, there is an explanation of the types of disabilities and other factors determining achievement, reasons for trying inclusion, and factors…

Responses from 143 individuals to a questionnaire mailed to 180 special education administrators from all regions of the country found that many first-year teachers enter the profession lacking skills critical to successful teaching and that those with only undergraduate degrees are at greater risk for failure than those with graduate training.…

The document contains descriptions of multimedia training resources of materials relating to mainstreaming and the education of handicapped children in the regular classroom. An introduction covers organization of the guide, criteria for including materials, and categories used. Provided for each of the 89 entries are title, date (if available),…