Physical fitness is associated with decreased weight in children, which helps improve youth obesity rates. Family programs can provide practical approaches to improving physical fitness for children. The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of a family-based fitness intervention on changes in body composition, fitness status, and…

This book serves as a practical guide for clinicians and other professionals working with children and adolescents exposed to trauma, offering an overview and rationale for a comprehensive approach to trauma-informed assessment, including key domains and techniques. Building on more than 2 decades of work in collaboration with the National Child…

Experts in the field of family and school partnerships have called for a shift from a focus on engagement to a focus on empowerment of parents, guardians, and caregivers to improve education outcomes for historically marginalized students. Although the terms "engage" and "empower" are often used interchangeably in the research,…

The benefits of afterschool activity participation for youth development are well-documented. An interesting question dominating this field is whether there is a threshold at which point participating in too many activities (breadth) and spending too much time in those activities (intensity) is negatively associated with desirable outcomes. Using…

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted education in a multitude of ways. During this time, school districts struggled to provide students with disabilities access to services and supports under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). School personnel were required to continue holding meetings to review students' Individualized Education…

The aim of this review was to systematically examine interventions in preschools that promote social inclusion of children with immigrant and ethnic minority backgrounds. This systematic review was performed in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. By a comprehensive literature…

Mission-driven nonprofit organizations sometimes struggle within a cycle of disempowerment resulting from oversaturation of data collection that is reactive to funder demands. In this article, we problematize Community Music School (CMS) data-collection and analysis efforts and discuss alternate approaches to learning about family and community…

Although strides have been made in promoting gender equality, there still exists a lingering gap in math achievement, where males tend to outshine females. This has piqued the interest of both scientists and society, who continue to explore the reasons behind the limited representation of women in math-intensive fields such as science, technology,…

Motivation is a key factor for child development, but very few studies have examined child and family predictors of both child task and perceived motivation. Thus, the three aims of this 6-month longitudinal study in preschoolers with global developmental delays (GDD) were to explore: 1) differences between task and perceived motivation in…

Latino parents support children's academic skills through their involvement in daily living activities. Prior work has focused on conventional literacy (e.g., book reading) and numeracy activities (e.g., teaching numbers). Less-visible home activities that are high-priority, high-value cultural practices in Latino communities are food sharing…

The importance of self-determination and best practices in secondary transition serve as the basis for assertions that guardianship and the aims of special education are inherently conflicted. Few studies have explored the perspectives and experiences of special education administrators on the support of students with disabilities and their…

Findings from two studies investigating the relationships between two types of family-centred practices (relational and participatory) and parent involvement in early childhood intervention are described. We tested the hypothesis that participatory practices would be more strongly related to parent involvement compared to relational practices…

In March 2020, COVID-19 dramatically and indelibly altered the U.S. educational landscape. Drawing on data from interviews with 30 Michigan preK teachers, Bethany Wilinski, Alyssa Morley, and Jamie Heng-Chieh Wu describe the centrality of family engagement in their pandemic preK education and the practices that contributed to stronger home-school…

Washington Hunt is an urban community school attempting to balance the implementation of equity initiatives that meet the needs of minoritized students and families while preventing the adoption of deficit perspectives among school staff. The purpose of this case is to describe how "deficit-creep"--the subtle infusion of deficit-based…

Research and practice emphasize the importance of family involvement in early intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, in order to address the unique and diverse challenges of families, support and resources may need to be prescribed on a case-by-case basis. This article suggests ways early intervention programs can…