Topics in Early Childhood Special Education

This study examined the effects of a multi-component intervention program (i.e., extended instruction and iPad app technology) on preschool children’s vocabulary. Instruction utilizing the intervention program was provided across 6 storybooks, 4 verbs per book, for a total of 24 verbs. Dependent variables included expressive vocabulary, definitions/examples, and generalization. A repeated acquisition (RA) design was used across six participants. There were increases across all participants from pretest to posttest for the expressive vocabulary and definition/examples measures. In addition, participants were able to generalize knowledge to novel images, both expressively and receptively. Implications for research and practice are provided.

This research examines the relationships between participation in an inclusive preschool program, children's understanding of disabilities, and their acceptance of children with disabilities. Subjects were preschool children enrolled in regular ( n = 31) and inclusive ( n = 29) programs. Children's understanding of competencies associated with specific disabilities, and their general acceptance of others, were assessed using interview questions and dolls. Children were interviewed to learn their ideas about the immediate and long-term consequences of physical and sensory disabilities. In addition, children provided ratings of the social acceptance of hypothetical children with and without disabilities. Children in inclusive classes had more knowledge about long-term consequences of disabilities than did children in regular preschool classes. In addition, children in inclusive settings gave significantly higher acceptance ratings to children with and without disabilities than did children in regular preschool classes. Finally, it was found that children's knowledge of disabilities, their overall acceptance of individuals without disabilities, and their participation in an inclusive class contributed significantly and independently to their acceptance of children with disabilities.

This research investigates the ways in which preschool children conceptualize different disabilities. Subjects were 46 children, 3 to 6 years of age, enrolled in inclusive preschool programs. Children were interviewed to learn their ideas about physical and sensory disabilities and Down syndrome, and to assess the salience of disability in their responses to photographs of unfamiliar children. Results revealed that most children were aware of physical disability, half of the children were aware of sensory disabilities, and no children expressed an awareness of Down syndrome. Children were sensitive to the effects of a physical disability on a child's motor performance, but were less aware of the consequences of other disabilities. These results have important implications for understanding typically developing children's reactions to, and ideas about, their classmates with disabilities in inclusive settings.

There is a continuing need to competently serve children and families from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. This article describes Skilled Dialogue, an approach to cultural competency developed by the first author in response to the challenges posed by cultural linguistic diversity. Skilled Dialogue focuses on cultural competency as the ability to craft respectful, reciprocal, and responsive interactions across diverse cultural parameters. The authors discuss key beliefs about cultural diversity and culture that provide the foundation of this approach, as well as the characteristics, component skills, and related strategies of Skilled Dialogue. Concrete suggestions are offered for engaging in the process of Skilled Dialogue as an approach to cultural competency.

This study evaluated the correspondence between parent and teacher assessments of children as a function of a child's degree of developmental disability and examined whether this correspondence changed over the course of a preschool year. Children ages 2.5 to 6 years old identified as having severe ( n = 96), mild/moderate ( n = 66), or no disabilities ( n = 63), were rated by parents and teachers on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale at the beginning and end of the preschool year. Preassessment results indicated a significant correlation between parent and teacher ratings and differences in the absolute levels of informants' assessment for children with severe disabilities but not for children with mild/moderate or no disabilities. Implications for assessment of children with disabilities and planning for the children are discussed.

Research on the prevalence of behavior problems in preschool children from low-income families, and the risk factors associated with these behaviors, was reviewed. A systematic search of studies conducted between 1991 and 2002 yielded a total of 30 research reports that met all of the preestablished criteria. These studies yielded several findings. Children from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds were found to have a higher incidence of behavior problems as compared to the general population. Behavior problems were associated with multiple risk factors found in these children's lives related to child, parent, and socioeconomic characteristics. The results are discussed in terms of implications for early identification and intervention and directions for future research.

The Early Social Interaction (ESI) Project (Woods & Wetherby, 2003) was designed to apply the recommendations of the National Research Council (2001) to toddlers with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) by using a parent-implemented intervention that (a) embeds naturalistic teaching strategies in everyday routines and (b) is compatible with the mandate of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) of 2004, Part C. This quasi-experimental study is a preliminary effort by the authors to evaluate the effects of ESI on the social communication outcomes for a group of 17 children with ASD who entered ESI at age 2 years. The results indicated significant improvement on 11 of 13 social communication measures. The researchers compared the ESI group with a contrast group of 18 children with ASD who entered early intervention at age 3 years. The contrast group's results were comparable to those of the ESI postintervention group on communicative means and play, but the contrast group as a whole demonstrated significantly poorer performance on all other social communication measures. These findings offer promise for the use of parent-implemented interventions in promoting social communication for toddlers with ASD.

A clustered randomized design was used in which 28 inclusive preschool classrooms were randomly assigned to receive 2 years of training and coaching to fidelity in the LEAP (Learning Experiences and Alternative Program for Preschoolers and Their Parents) preschool model, and 28 inclusive classes were assigned to receive intervention manuals only. In total, 177 intervention classroom children and 117 comparison classroom children participated. Children were similar on all measures at start. After 2 years, experimental class children were found to have made significantly greater improvement than their comparison cohorts on measures of cognitive, language, social, and problem behavior, and autism symptoms. Behavior at entry did not predict outcome nor did family socioeconomic status. The fidelity with which teachers implemented LEAP strategies did predict outcomes. Finally, social validity measurement showed that procedures and outcomes were favorably viewed by intervention class teachers.

The association between poverty and compromised development, particularly in the early years, has been well documented. Many early childhood programs have been designed to promote positive parenting and more enriched home environments in order to nhance children's development. We describe findings from a multisite, randomized evaluation of the Parents as Teachers (PAT) program with 665 families, which was designed specifically to investigate the program's effectiveness with low-income families. The observed effects of the PAT program on parenting and child development outcomes were generally small, with few statistically significant effects. More consistent positive effects were noted for very low-income parents and their children relative to more moderate income parents. The discussion focuses on the policy implications of the findings for the design and implementation of early childhood parenting programs for low-income families and future research.

Assessment on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development of 305 twelve-month-old infants born at full term (>2,500 grams) in rural North Carolina resulted in mean Mental Developmental Indexes (MDI's) of 114 and 109 for whites and nonwhites, respectively, and a mean Psychomotor Developmental Index (PDI) of 110 for each group. Because the sample was systematically drawn from the entire population of an eight-county region, such high scores raised the suspicion that the 1969 Bayley norms are outdated. Exploration of alternative hypotheses suggested that home testing might have positively affected sample scores, but support for the hypothesis that the Bayley norms for 12-month-olds are outdated was derived from published means for other samples of infants born in the 1970s and from recent age placement revisions of items on the Gesell Developmental Examination. A renorming of the Bayley Scales is recommended.