Journal of Early Intervention

On August 22, 1996, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, better known as the Welfare Reform Act, was signed by President Clinton. This legislation dramatically changes many of the programs that have historically provided assistance to low-income families with young children. While all welfare recipients will be affected by this legislation, families with young children with disabilities are likely to experience a disproportionate share of hardship. The implementation of this legislation will therefore have tremendous implications for Part H programs and service providers. This article will briefly describe the provisions of the Welfare Act, and will discuss the implications for young children with disabilities, their families, and the early intervention professionals who work with them.

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between service utilization patterns in early intervention programs and specific child, maternal, and service provider characteristics. Service utilization data for 133 infants and toddlers were gathered for 1 week out of every month for a 4 month duration. For each service encounter, the duration, location, type of service, and academic discipline of service provider was recorded. Findings revealed that families received an average of 1.7 hours per week of services (unduplicated hours). Older children (toddlers) and mothers with higher levels of education received significantly more service. Thirty-four percent of all services occurred in community-based settings and community-based services were utilized more when both mother and provider were college educated. Data also suggest that early intervention is no longer restricted to specialized centers but includes the universe of neighborhood resources.

This review presents literature on family factors associated with externalizing behavior in preschool children. Studies that identify family patterns of preschoolers with both hyperactivity and aggression and longitudinal studies on family factors associated with negative behavioral outcomes in children were reviewed. Overall, the research documents that negative family characteristics are more prevalent in families of preschoolers with externalizing behavior disorders than in families of comparison preschoolers. When compared with families of preschoolers with only hyperactivity, preschoolers with hyperactivity and aggression had families with the most negative characteristics. Longitudinal research documented that certain family characteristics are associated with negative behavioral outcomes in children. Implications from these findings for both research and practice are given.

Over 2500 preschool children from across the United States were screened for emotional and behavioral problems using the 3 stage, multiple-gating procedures of The Early Screening Project (ESP). Preschool teachers were asked to nominate, rank, and rate children in their classroom on both externalizing and internalizing behavioral dimensions. The behaviors were then independently confirmed through direct observations in natural preschool environments. Gender disparities also were addressed. Significant differences were found between children who did and did not exceed the ESP's normative referral criteria. The ESP can minimize both the time and cost of preschool assessments while providing accurate screening for emotional and behavior problems with less gender bias. Additionally, the ESP can promote early prevention interventions for all young children.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of a home-based emergent literacy program for children with intellectual disabilities. Twenty preschool children equally distributed between an experimental and comparison group participated in the study. Children were given a pretest and a posttest 8 months later. Assessment of children's progress included measurement of emergent literacy knowledge, abilities and attitudes. Results show that the only item for which children in the experimental group had higher scores was pretend reading. Treatment effect is modest but promising considering the population studied. Benefits of the program are also discussed. Emergent literacy behaviors in the children in the study are compared with those reported for nondisabled students.