Notes that most special education children are in nonnormative category and that classification of such children as unready for school is based on factors unrelated to education. Argues that children in normative and nonnormative disability categories should be considered ready for regular education and that the readiness concept applied to…

Argues that for early intervention programs to become part of national, state, and community efforts to assist families in early education, they must represent the cooperation and joint planning of constituencies involved, including the research, policy, consumer, and practice communities. Describes an early education demonstration program that is…

Summarizes recommendations generated in six workshops along several themes, including the need to redefine school readiness; expand the role of schools and teachers; more fully integrate the growing cultural diversity of our population into the learning equation; and develop new readiness assessment instruments. The specific recommendations are…

Strategies for social pretend play were compared for 15 preschoolers with mild disabilities and 15 nondisabled preschoolers in 3 integrated sites. Videotapes of children during free play were analyzed to determine strategies used to enter, initiate, maintain, and terminate play. Both groups initiated play without discussing roles, conducted short…

Discusses the effectiveness of a group self-management procedure (involving opportunity to perform a behavior, performance self-assessment, matching with the teacher, and reinforcement contingent on a student-teacher match) for increasing the on-task behavior of four disruptive preschool boys. Presents results regarding child engagement behavior,…

Discusses the provisions and impact of Public Law 99-457, an educational entitlement for preschoolers with disabilities. Compares the law to other early childhood programs, especially in terms of its incorporation of an unusual expectation of accelerated progress. (AC)

Describes a study of the extent to which children in early intervention programs are experiencing a reiteration of Individual Educational Program (IEP) objectives from one year to the next and whether this repetition results from establishing initial objectives too difficult for the children. Finds a significant amount of repetition and objectives…

Investigates the existence of an identifiable core cognitive curriculum operative in early intervention programs as revealed in the developmental inventories used to assess students and in Individual Educational Program (IEP) objectives. Discusses the substance and suitability of this curriculum for developmentally disabled preschoolers. Questions…

Explores the relative emphasis given to directive and nondirective approaches to language instruction in early intervention programs by examining language objectives on Individual Educational Programs (IEPs) in 20 programs. Analyzes the directive/nondirective nature of language items on eight developmental inventories used to assess children's…