Government agencies collect vast amounts of administrative data in their day-to-day activities, primarily for program operations. But the information is less often used as a research tool or fully harnessed for its evidence-building potential. This brief is the fourth in a series of publications from MDRC about the Temporary Assistance for Needy…

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disability that manifests uniquely amongst individuals, and autism-specific training can have positive impacts for individuals with autism and their families. However, family training is underutilized, especially for families who are culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD). When they do participate, many CLD…

Parent-mediated interventions (PMIs) are considered an evidence-based practice for fostering social communication skills in young autistic children and for promoting parent responsivity and empowerment, yet barriers to caregiver engagement are evident when PMIs are implemented within historically underserved community settings. Issues of caregiver…

Home visiting is a service delivery strategy for inter-generational family-centered supports during the pivotal window from pregnancy to early childhood. Expanded federal support for home visiting began with the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program, which was authorized by Congress in 2010, and provides funding…

Autism affects about 4.57 million children under the age of five worldwide, and 95% of them live in low-and-middle-income countries, where services are scarce. In China, there is a scarcity of professionals who can provide evidence-based treatments. Families of children with autism often experience delays in diagnosis and treatments, and this…

Including parents of children with developmental delays in early intervention programs has been widely endorsed as best practice across the multiple disciplines that work in that context. Parents have echoed that sentiment, commenting on the benefits of being able to apply skills in broader family and community contexts. Despite a 20-plus year…

This paper presents a protocol for a funded study of technical assistance strategies used to support the use of evidence, and, in particular, how participatory processes contribute to the use of evidence to improve outcomes for populations. Findings from the study will increase understanding of the relationships between technical assistance,…

Teaching vocabularies to young children is critical as vocabulary is related to long-term language, literacy, and academic skills. The current study used a multiple probe design to examine the effects of enhanced milieu teaching with book reading on the use of word approximations in four 2- to 4-year-old females with language delay. The first…

Transitioning Together is a multi-family intervention designed to support families of adolescents on the autism spectrum as they prepare for the transition to adulthood. Questions remain regarding its wide-scale adoption and implementation in real-world settings such as high schools. We examined student, teacher, and school-level facilitators and…

The Coalition for Community Schools (Coalition), as an alliance of national, state and local partners that advocate for community schools, wanted to provide support and a space for community school leaders to share their challenges and successes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Beginning March 17, 2020 through the present, the Coalition conducted…

Increasing government interest in parenting support has emerged in response to the increasingly diverse form of families, a growing emphasis on children's rights and a policy shift towards prevention and early intervention. This has contributed to a range of stakeholder activity in the area, with the notion that parenting is a set of skills that…

Evidence-based behavioral parent training (BPT) programs are the most effective way to address children's behavior disorders and participant engagement is essential to achieving positive treatment outcomes. However, there is limited understanding of the factors that contribute to engagement, particularly for at-risk families. This qualitative…

Background: Bottom-up dissemination (BUD) of evidence based treatments (EBT), entailing the spread of an intervention through a peer network in a decentralized manner, is an under-reported phenomenon in the professional literature. Objective: This paper presents findings from a study researching the feasibility of BUD of an evidence-based…

This paper reviews the services and supports that are available to individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The review focuses on the diagnostic process, early intervention and educational services, family collaboration/parental involvement, instructional practices, and research-based practices. Based…

Introduction: Anthony cautions that the training of teachers of students with visual impairments (i.e., blindness and low vision) and orientation and mobility (O&M) specialists covers a broad age range, which may result in limited curricular content essential for those who will work with very young children with visual impairments. The current…