Readability of Early Intervention Program Literature

2006

The purpose of this study was to determine the usefulness of academic detailing for increasing hospital referrals to an early childhood intervention program. Academic detailing is an outreach strategy for changing prescribing or referral practices. Two individuals trained to implement the intervention each contacted primary referral sources at one of two regional Level III hospitals, providing them with concise oral and written information about the program and procedures for making referrals. One detailer implemented the full procedure while the second detailer partially implemented the procedure by not making any follow-up contacts. The full implementation procedure was found more effective for increasing the number of referrals from these primary referral sources.

Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 1996

This study assessed the type and scope of services provided to families participating in early intervention programs and examined whether early intervention services were responsive to families' concerns. From 63 programs, 357 mothers responded to a printed questionnaire. Results indicated that (a) early intervention programs provided significantly higher levels of family services related to child information, family instructional activities, and systems engagement as compared to personal/family and resource assistance; (b) services were rated more favorably in home-based programs and center-based programs with home-based components than in programs with only center-based services; (c) the services families reported receiving were positively correlated with their ratings of the desirability of services; (d) families' needs for services were significantly higher than the level of services they reported currently receiving; and (e) the types of services families received depended in part on the location in which they resided. No significant relationships were found between characteristics of children and the types of services families received. However, the pattern of relationships between family characteristics and family services suggested that families with optimal patterns of family functioning were more likely to receive services than were families with indicators of risk or dysfunction.

2014

This article utilizes four knowledge sources to characterize a current gap in policy and practice related to serving families in early intervention (birth to 5) programs. It argues that the field of early intervention has focused primarily on implementing family-centered practices by focusing on how families and professionals should interact. The field has not sufficiently addressed what supports and services should be offered to families to enhance the likelihood of positive outcomes for families themselves and for their children with disabilities. The paper concludes with recommendations for enhancing policy, research, and professional development related to family services and supports. This paper converges four knowledge sources to distinguish and describe a current gap in policy and practice related to families: empirical, conceptual, statutory, and infor-mation obtained from a national summit. The gap is the absence of a clear conceptu-alization of what supports and services

1994

This speech reports on data collected by the Early Intervention Collaborative Study (EICS), which is a longitudinal study following the development of 190 young children with disabilities (and their families) who entered 29 publicly funded early intervention programs in Massachusetts and New Hampshire in the period from 1985 to 1987. The children's disabilities included Down syndrome, motor impairment, and developmental delays. Evaluation of service trends indicated: average service hours amounted to 8 hours per month; families participated in early intervention programs an average of 2 years; lower income, less well educated, single mothers received less service; the child's developmental level and diagnosis at entry were highly associated with total service hours; mothers experiencing more parenting stress and poorer teaching skills received less service than mothers with more social support; however, families with lower incomes, unmarried mothers, and families reporting more stress received more outside services (i.e., case management and financial assistance) than did other families. Possible reasons for these patterns are suggested and include the medical model training received by most early intervention staff and funding mechanisms which do not recognize less formal family services. Attached tables provide details of the study's findings.

Theory and Practice, Second Edition, 2012

Menlo Park, CA: SRI International, 2003

Journal of Early …, 2007

This article utilizes four knowledge sources to characterize a current gap in policy and practice related to serving families in early intervention (birth to 5) programs. It argues that the field of early intervention has focused primarily on implementing family-centered practices by focusing on how families and professionals should interact. The field has not sufficiently addressed what supports and services should be offered to families to enhance the likelihood of positive outcomes for families themselves and for their children with disabilities. The paper concludes with recommendations for enhancing policy, research, and professional development related to family services and supports.

DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), 2003

2002

Psicologia: Teoria e Pesquisa

Early Intervention (EI) is aimed at children with developmental delays through actions that include families and their context. The objective of this study was to conduct a scoping review based on The Protocols of the Joanna Briggs Institute and PRISMA-Scr, answering the question: How do families of children with special needs understand the benefits (support or assistance received) of Early Intervention Services? 54 articles were found and analyzed, and four different nuclei were organized: EI team, skills, and collaborative practices; Family empowerment and self-efficacy; Participation, personal needs, and Quality of Family Life; Access to information and services. We concluded that family benefits are indicators of the effectiveness of early intervention.