National shortages of qualified personnel in the field of early childhood special education are well documented, with shortages magnified in regions characterized by poverty and rural geography. This article provides an overview of the challenges faced and innovations implemented by an alternate-track, personnel preparation program in Appalachian…

Children's developmental progress was studied to determine if location and types of services for handicapped preschoolers (classroom or home and classroom combined) were significantly related to child progress. Data indicated an overall trend for progress for all participating children, but neither service delivery model emerged as the superior…

During 1984-85 New York's 14 Early Childhood Direction Centers responded to 10,609 service requests and assisted 5,283 parents, 376 professionals, and 666 agencies in obtaining services for 5,510 handicapped children aged birth to 5. The network operated at a cost of only $218 per child matched to services. (JHZ)

Describes how the Blackfeet Head Start Program uses professionals to train local residents as screeners and home trainers for preschool handicapped children. Notes that numbers of handicapped children and their families who receive services have increased as a result of using local home trainers and teachers as direct care providers. (JHZ)

Profiles three programs recognized for exemplary rural special education programs. Describes a program for severely handicapped birth-through-three children in an isolated mountainous Tennessee community, a multidisciplinary special education team that provides an itinerant resource room for an Alaska school district of 22,000 square miles, and…

Describes a program designed to help rural school staff meet the educational needs of handicapped students and to give preservice teacher education students the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to work successfully with handicapped students in rural schools. Discusses the project's implications for the shortage of speech-language pathologists in…

Preliminary data comparing individualized education program (IEP) development in three demonstration and three nondemonstration sites show that demonstration sites had significantly more individuals attending IEP meetings, more service options on the IEP, and more best-practice elements included in the IEP. Suggests that the demonstration site…

Surveys of staff in 10 rural regional cooperatives and 27 special education directors in New Mexico regarding their perception of program effectiveness found that the regional cooperative approach provides special education-related services (training, technical assistance, grant writing) and personnel that schools would have difficulty maintaining…