Sleep problems are a common occurrence among children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In addition to the adverse effects that sleep problems present for children's neurodevelopment, learning, and daytime behaviors, these sleep problems also present significant challenges for the entire family. This article outlines the results of a…

Service coordinators in a statewide early intervention program were surveyed to develop an understanding of screening and referral practices to identify children on the autism spectrum. Quantitative and qualitative data summarizing autism-specific screening and referral practices are reported. More than 50% of the respondents reported that they…

Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), a nationally representative data set, we examined the extent to which mothers of preschool children with and without the diagnosis of an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) reported stress and depressive symptoms prior to and following diagnosis of ASD. At 4 years, approximately 100…

Maternal verbal responsiveness in naturally occurring interactions is known to facilitate language development for children with neurodevelopmental disorders. The present study used a series of A-B replications to examine proximal effects of a naturalistic language intervention on the use of specific language support strategies by mothers of eight…

Preschool environments can be critical to academic success and risk reduction but disruptive behaviors can have significant and lasting negative effects on students as well as teachers. These behaviors may be pervasive in some classrooms and effective interventions are needed. A combined delayed multiple baseline and withdrawal design across a…

An exploratory case study was undertaken to examine child and caregiver outcomes in a diverse sample of 21 infants/toddlers with severe disabilities who received services from an urban, Part C program where caregiver-focused intervention was emphasized. Purposive sampling and mixed methods were used to collect data on child developmental change,…

Paraeducators are frequent communication partners for young children with complex communication needs (CCN) in early childhood settings. This study examined the impact of instruction to paraeducators in two communication interaction strategies (IPLAN [Identify activities for communication, Provide means for communication, Locate and provide…

This study researched the predictive impact of developmental screening results and the effects of child and family characteristics on completion of referrals given for evaluation. Logistical and hierarchical logistic regression analyses were used to determine the significance of 10 independent variables on the predictor variable. The number of…

This study examined the effects of in-service training with performance feedback on preschool teachers' use of classroom preventive practices. Three practices designed to prevent challenging behavior were selected: transition preparations, rule reminders, and social-emotional teaching strategies. Following a brief training on each practice,…

Elizabeth Peabody, a radical feminist, used early 19th-century ideas of the "woman's sphere" to suggest that a career in early childhood education was "the ideal solution to the problem of what educated American women should do with their lives," and she credited Froebel's "genius" in identifying a way in…

A randomized control study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of responsive teaching (RT) with a sample of 19 Turkish preschool-age children with disabilities and their mothers over a 6-months period. RT is an early intervention curriculum that attempts to promote children's development by encouraging parents to engage in highly…

Coaching has garnered support as a professional development approach that helps teachers use research-based instruction to teach emergent literacy skills to young children. However, approaches to coaching vary widely, as do the backgrounds and training of the teachers included in different studies. This study investigated the influence of…

The purpose of this article is to synthesize the available studies regarding responsive interaction intervention (RII) for children with or at risk for developmental delays with a focus on six dimensions: (a) the characteristics of participants, (b) the features of RII, (c) the measurement of treatment fidelity, (d) the overall effectiveness of…

The articles in this special issue make clear that the field of early education is characterized by a breadth and depth of knowledge unimaginable 200 years ago, even to someone as exceptional as Elizabeth Peabody. This radical feminist used early 19th-century ideas of the "woman's sphere" to suggest that a career in early childhood education was…

This article provides an overview of the Australian Federal Government initiatives in the area of early childhood with regard to the provision of early childhood education and care. These changes have influenced a Western Australian university to develop an innovative birth to 8 years preservice educator education curriculum. Using an ecological…