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…

This study investigated the effectiveness of a relationship-focused intervention on the socioemotional well-being of 20 young children with autism or pervasive developmental disorder. Weekly intervention sessions encouraged parents to use a responsive teaching curriculum to promote children's socioemotional development. The intervention resulted…

Proposes a renewed focus on parent education in early intervention but urges the development of strategies that are consistent with contemporary family-service concepts, the provision of explicit instruction to service providers in parent education strategies, and research studies on short- and long-term effects of parent education. (Author/DB)

This rejoinder to comments on the authors' article (EC 623 392) on a renewed emphasis on parent education in early intervention discusses the nature of parent education, the intended outcomes of parent education, professional training needs, and a research agenda. (DB)

The results from four early intervention evaluation studies are described in relationship to their impact on parent-child interaction. Intervention effects on child development were unlikely to occur unless mothers modified their style of interacting. Only their level of responsiveness was associated with positive developmental outcomes.…

A study assessed the effect of family-centered early intervention services on 47 children and their families during a 12-month period. During family-centered intervention, children's developmental gains were equivalent to their rate of development prior to intervention. The intervention also did not reduce parental stress or enhance family…

This response to Baird and Peterson (EC 617 085) suggests that the original authors' conceptions of family-centered philosophy and intervention in parent-child interaction are inaccurate. They note the importance of parent-child interactions and the need for intervention procedures to be based on the parent-child interaction literature. (DB)

This article discusses issues relevant to the clinical assessment of parent-child interaction in the context of early intervention and clinical infant services. Issues discussed include factors contributing to the call for parent-child assessments, reliability and validity of parent-child assessment instruments, and interpretability of data…

This study, involving 357 mothers, assessed the type and scope of services provided to families participating in 63 early intervention programs. Analysis found that services were more related to child information and family instructional activities than to personal/family and resource assistance, and that home-based programs and center-based…

Analysis of communicative exchanges between 24 children (ages 2-3) with Down syndrome and their mothers found that the quality of children's responses was highly associated with the degree to which the mothers' requests were related to the child's current activity and matched or were below the child's current developmental level. (DB)

Independent ratings of videotaped sessions in which mothers (N=60) interacted with their mentally retarded children (ages 1-3) suggested that potentially important components of maternal behavior (child orientedness/pleasure and control) may be assessed with the seven-item short form of the Maternal Behavior Rating Scale. (JW)

This paper asserts that the educational philosophy of early childhood education (ECE) emphasizes child-directed instruction based on children's interests, whereas early childhood special education emphasizes teacher-directed activities that promote the acquisition of specific developmental skills. Research on parent-child interaction that points…

A national survey assessing the degree and kind of family intervention services received was completed by 503 mothers with handicapped children in early intervention programs. Factor analysis was performed and items used to construct the Family-Focused Intervention Scale with 5 reliable subscales. Comparisons among groups of mothers supported…