Programs that provide services for young children with special needs are now planning ways to support the child's family as well. In response to the great diversity in the way programs define and implement a family-centered approach to service delivery, researchers at the Beach Center on Families and Disability designed and tested the Family-Centered Program Rating Scale (FamPRS). In addition to being used as a component of a comprehensive program evaluation, the FamPRS may be used for program planning, self development, and research. This article describes how the rating scale was developed, provides information about its psychometric properties, and makes recommendations for its appropriate uses.
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