This digest presents summary statistics addressing the following questions: (1) "How are children with disabilities defined?" (2) "Who are the students served?" (3) "Where are these students receiving their special education?" and (4) "How many teachers are needed?" The digest also examines past and present…

There is no national policy on assisting drug-using pregnant mothers nor on the children they produce. This paper looks at the issue of "crack-cocaine" and mothers who give birth to children after using drugs during pregnancy. It attempts to lay out what is known, and it puts forth "best guesses" regarding helping children born…

This report summarizes two joint sessions held by the Indian Nations At Risk Task Force and the National Advisory Council on Indian Education to hear testimony on health and substance abuse prevention issues relevant to Native American children. Issues and problems fell into the following areas: (1) general health and wellness, including the need…

A Congressional hearing was held to focus on problems faced by schools due to students who have been exposed to drugs, and ways the federal government can help teachers and administrators ameliorate the crisis of student exposure to drugs. The topics discussed included teachers' difficulties in dealing with the increasing number of drug-exposed…

This primer on fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) distinguishes between the syndrome and fetal alcohol effects (FAE), offers a history of FAS, outlines medical criteria for diagnosis, rates of incidence, factors influencing incidence and severity, developmental stages of children with FAS, clinical features, and educational implications and approaches.…

This report reviews literature on the effects of maternal alcohol consumption on the fetus and the resulting impact on the learning abilities and behavior of children born with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Recent reports indicate that an estimated 73 percent of infants are exposed to alcohol before birth, resulting in varying degrees of learning…

This book combines in a single volume the findings of basic research and clinical studies conducted on the effects of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs on the fetus, the mother, and the baby after birth and through lactation. It first outlines changing perspectives on teratology (the study of causes for birth defects), as knowledge about the…

This publication addresses the issue of low birthweight and what state legislatures can do to reduce its incidence, particularly in regard to ensuring prenatal care. Other than prevention of unwanted pregnancies, provison of good prenatal care is the most effective strategy for reducing the number of low birthweight babies. This text describes:…

The degree to which under nourishment exists in a local community such as San Diego, California, and in the U.S. at large, and whether it is severe enough to interfere with brain development is the focus of this report. After establishing criteria for nutrition intake that would represent unambiguous jeopardy to brain development, these criteria…

Provides cultural background relevant for the delivery of health services to expectant Navajo women and their offspring including morbidity/mortality rates and trends and prevalent health problems. Reports results of a questionnaire administered to 479 expectant Navajo women and used to identify cultural practices distinguishing among traditional,…

This report compiles the proceedings from the third national forum of the Canadian Child Care Federation, held in November 2001, which provided an opportunity for early childhood educators, practitioners, and researchers to share knowledge, learn from each other, and network with colleagues. The agenda included 4 keynote speeches, 30 workshops on…

A survey of 85 early childhood special educators and 88 Head Start educators in five southern states examined the adequacy of their preservice and inservice preparation to work with children, ages 3 through 5, who were prenatally exposed to cocaine. Identification methods, service patterns, preservice and inservice opportunities, and additional…

This paper comments on a critical review of cohort studies on PCB-related neurodevelopmental deficit in young children by D.V. Cicchetti, A.S. Kaufman, and S.S. Sparrow (CKS). Major points of criticism of CKS, namely alleged violation of statistical principles, presumed lack of clinical significance of findings, and alleged insufficient control of…

Background: There are some indications that maternal lifestyle during pregnancy (smoking and stress) contributes to symptoms of ADHD in children. We prospectively studied whether prenatal exposure to maternal smoking and/or stress is associated with ADHD symptoms and diagnostic criteria (according to DSM-IV) in 7-year-olds. Methods: Nulliparous…

The authors used the Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence (J. F. Fagan, L. T. Singer, J. E. Montie, & P. A. Shepherd, 1986) to examine preferences for novelty and to evaluate several indicators of attention (off- and on-task indexes and durations) in 6- and 9-month-old infants who had been prenatally exposed to cigarette smoke only or to cocaine plus…