Christine Anlauf Sabatino

Early Head Start and Access to Early Intervention Services: A Qualitative Investigation.

This qualitative study of 32 low-income families with infants or toddlers with developmental delays or disabilities (a) examines whether participation in one Early Head Start (EHS) program increased the likelihood that the families would pursue early intervention services, (b) identifies the phases through which the EHS families progressed in accessing such services, and (c) describes how EHS helped the families obtain access. The study analyzes data from interviews, program records, and research measures. The authors found that the EHS families obtained early intervention services at higher rates than the control families. Case studies illustrate how EHS staff developed individualized strategies to help the families obtain early intervention services.

Mother and Soldier: Raising a Child with a Disability in a Low-Income Military Family

This article presents the results of a study of six low-income women, each of whom is raising a child with a suspected or diagnosed disability while also serving as an active member of the armed forces. Their experiences as they attempt to strike a balance between the highly demanding work role of the military and their role as a mother of a child with disabilities are examined. This article also discusses the personal strengths these women display, the barriers they confront, the strategies they use to negotiate competing demands, and the impact of this effort on their personal and professional lives. Practice and policy implications are drawn for early intervention and family support programs.

Needs and Aspirations of the Working Poor: Early Head Start Program Applicants

This field study identified the characteristics, needs, and goals of 85 applicants for a new, suburban Early Head Start program, a recent federal initiative designed to address the needs of economically disadvantaged infants and toddlers and their families. Most applicants were working-poor, two-parent families with inadequate resources for meeting their basic needs, child-care needs, and personal wants; they had goals for becoming economically self-sufficient through more education, better jobs, and more income. Yet these applicants clearly were not a monolithic group. That the three distinct sociocultural subgroups identified within the sample differed significantly in characteristics, needs, and goals highlighted the critical importance of subgroup profiles for individualized family program planning. This also indicated the need for building coordinated and culturally sensitive community service systems and for developing and implementing individualized family service agreements to facilitate child well-being and family economic self-sufficiency.

Consultation theory and practice : a handbook for school social workers

Preface Introduction Part One: History and Overview of School Social Work Consultation Chapter 1 Consultation and School Social Work Practice Chapter 2 Elements Common to all Models of Consultation Part Two: Consultation Models Applicable to School Social Work Practice Chapter 3 Organizational Consultation Wendy Whiting Blome Chapter 4 Program Consultation Chapter 5 Education and Training Consultation Chapter 6 Mental Health Consultation Chapter 7 Behavioral Consultation Barbara Peo Early Chapter 8 Clinical Consultation Lynn Milgram Mayer Part Three: Common Challenges and Unique Issues in School Social Work Consultation Chapter 9 Consultation Stages and Objectives Chapter 10 Consultation and Ethics Lynn Milgram Mayer Chapter 11 Culture, Diversity, and School Social Work Consultation Conclusion References Index

Resettlement challenges in the land of opportunity : The experience of economically disadvantaged immigrant women

Abstract This quantitative research examines interrelationships among immigration stressors, resettlement challenges, and protective factors of resilience and spirituality of 56 economically disadvantaged young immigrant women in order to understand how these risk and protective factors influence their resettlement and roles as resources for family well‐being. The findings highlight resilience, cultural connectedness, spirituality, and hope for the future as mediating protective factors for economically disadvantaged immigrant women as they cope with the stressors and challenges inherent in immigration and resettlement.

Psychosocial coping of urban children in catholic elementary school classrooms

This exploratory survey of 723 kindergarten and first grade children in eight inner‐city and five more affluent urban Catholic elementary schools presents demographic characteristics, information about assets and vulnerabilities of childrens psychosocial coping in the classroom, and comparisons of these items by school grouping. Chi square and analyses of variance yielded statistically significant differences in that schools located in the lower income neighborhoods were found to have more children who were younger, African‐American, and living with one parent and fewer who were Catholic. Children in inner city schools demonstrated more classroom behavioral assets supporting learning and fewer behavioral vulnerabilities inhibiting the process. Fewer inner‐city children were identified as having many behavior problems. The implications of this study are considered for future program development in school social work service provision.

Decisions Made in Educational Placement of Handicapped Children

The informational inputs of teachers, educational psychologists, and school social workers to the decisions made in special educational placement were first studied separately in order to discover what variables played a part in group decisions about handicapped children. Next, stepwise multiple regression of classroom behavior items, school performance items, child characteristics, and family characteristics yielded 11 items which contributed most to the variance accounted for (r2 = .462). The findings about educational classification of handicapped children supported a multidisciplinary approach to the service delivery issues raised by PL 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act.