Findings from a study investigating the effects of early intervention settings on the extent of parent involvement in IDEA Part C Infant and Toddler Programs are reported. Participants were 124 parents and other primary caregivers of children receiving early intervention in 22 states who completed an investigator-developed scale measuring…

Parents of young children participating in either Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part C early intervention or IDEA Part B-619 preschool special education programs were surveyed to obtain a consumer science perspective of the practitioners who were the children's primary service providers. Parents were asked to make judgments of…

The term parapatric speciation, borrowed from biogeography, is used as a metaphor for describing and illustrating a little acknowledged change in the field of early intervention that occurred at the time of the passage of the Education of the Handicapped Act Part H early intervention legislation. The term refers to the formation of a new species…

Findings from a meta-analysis of studies investigating the use of five different assistive technology devices (switch interfaces, powered mobility, computers, augmentative communication, weighted/pressure vests) with young children with disabilities are reported. One hundred and nine studies including 1,342 infants, toddlers, and preschoolers were…

The effectiveness of three types of in-service training designed to improve early intervention practitioners' abilities to use family-systems intervention practices was evaluated in the study of 473 participants. Participants attended either conference presentations or one of two types of workshops (half day/full day or multi-day), or received one…

The extent to which the influences of family-systems intervention practices could be traced to variations in parent-child interactions and child development was investigated by meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM). MASEM is a procedure for producing a weighted pooled correlation matrix and fitting a structural equation model to the…

This practice guide includes a description of the development and use of a universal checklist for identifying infants and toddlers that may be eligible for early intervention. The checklist was specifically developed to facilitate and streamline the identification of potentially eligible children without the need to administer screening or…

A growing body of research demonstrates that the nature of the relationship between parents and professionals and parents' judgements of their feelings of empowerment are closely linked. This article focuses on one component of this relationship--partnerships--and reports on the association between parent-professional partnership and both parent…

Major components of the social support and social systems approach to early intervention are reviewed, reflections are presented, and the future use of the model are discussed. The paper concludes with an overview of a "third generation" model integrating new evidence for studying and practicing family systems intervention. (Contains extensive…

A proposed model of communicative behavior suggests a series of seven progressively more complex levels of communicative competence: (1) behavior state; (2) recognitory; (3) contingency; (4) instrumental; (5) triadic; (6) verbal-contextual; and (7) verbal-decontextual. Tables define these levels in detail and list their characteristics. Each level…

A total of 36 normally developing children of 13-30 months of age were evenly divided into three age groups and observed while playing with their mothers. Their communicative behaviors were recorded according to intent and level. Intent was classified as comment, request, and reject; levels were nonverbal, verbal-contextual, and…

Relationships among different person and environment characteristics of everyday natural learning opportunities and changes in child learning, behavior and performance were examined in a study with 63 parents and their infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with disabilities or delays. Findings showed that learning opportunities that were…

Parents (N=3283) of infants and young children with or at-risk for developmental delays completed one of two surveys of learning opportunities, either in the home or in the community. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that both family and community life were each made up of 11 different categories of learning opportunities. Results support…

A three-dimensional model is used to compare various approaches to natural environment interventions. The model distinguishes between practices that are contextually or noncontextually based, adult or child directed, and practitioner or nonpractitioner implemented. One approach (practitioner implemented, adult directed) has increasingly been…

Procedures for using a decision algorithm for determining whether an infant or toddler is eligible for Part C early intervention is the focus of this eligibility determination practice guideline. An algorithm is a step-by-step problem-solving procedure or decision-making process that results in a solution or accurate decision in a finite number of…