Elizabeth J. Erwin

Understanding Self-Determination and Families of Young Children With Disabilities in Home Environments

This article is about emergent self-determination for young children with disabilities in their home environments. The purpose of this study was to better understand family and home characteristics and how they influence the ways in which families can support the development of self-determination for their children with disabilities. Thirty families of young children with disabilities were interviewed, and their homes were systematically observed. Using a grounded theory design, an emergent model was developed that examined family and home context and the influence of context on the strategies that families used to support self-determination. Future research and practice implications of this research for supporting families are discussed.

Understanding Qualitative Metasynthesis Issues and Opportunities in Early Childhood Intervention Research

Qualitative metasynthesis is an intentional and coherent approach to analyzing data across qualitative studies. It is a process that enables researchers to identify a specific research question and then search for, select, appraise, summarize, and combine qualitative evidence to address the research question. This process uses rigorous qualitative methods to synthesize existing qualitative studies to construct greater meaning through an interpretative process. The purpose of this article is to describe qualitative metasynthesis as an innovative research approach for the field of early childhood intervention. Although this is not a new research approach in other fields, the authors suggest that it can offer a promising practice in the field of early childhood intervention. In this article, the authors explore how qualitative metasynthesis can be a practical and effective approach of inquiry as they continue to broaden their understanding about young children with disabilities and their families.

Implementing Inclusive Early Childhood Education: A Call for Professional Empowerment

We present two scenarios involving a familys experience in accessing a quality inclusive education for their young child to illustrate what it might look like if all stakeholders assumed responsibility for implementing the available research-based information to facilitate inclusive early childhood education. The influence and role of each stakeholder group (i.e., families, administrators, practitioners, college and university faculty, researchers) are discussed. We suggest that to move from mediocrity to excellence in providing inclusive early childhood education, professional empowerment must occur at the individual and program levels.

How to Promote Self-Determination for Young Children With Disabilities Evidenced-Based Strategies for Early Childhood Practitioners and Families

Fran Martin, an early interventionist, arrives at the apartment of Jenny, a 3-year-old child with Downs syndrome, to provide services for Jenny and her mom, who is a single parent. Jenny is wearing a pretty pink dress that she chose to wear today. When she enters the family room, Fran is happy to see that the furniture has been rearranged to encourage Jennys emerging gross motor activity while ensuring her safe use of the space. The toys provided are attractive and interesting to encourage Jennys activity. Although Jenny has motor movement delays because of a cardiac condition and a number of surgeries to repair her malformed feet, she is beginning to pull up and shift her weight in a standing position. Fran talks with Jennys mother about both her hopes and her concerns for her daughter. Fran and Jennys mother continue to discuss ways to provide a safe environment that promotes movement that is both stimulating and interesting.

Foundations for Self-Determination in Early Childhood: An Inclusive Model for Children With Disabilities

This article introduces the Early Childhood Foundations Model for Self-Determination and provides a rationale for the need to consider the foundations of self-determination behavior that begin early in life. This model is based on the premise that young children with disabilities benefit from a collaborative partnership between important adults in the lives of children to provide a supportive, stimulating, and coordinated environment between inclusive classrooms and home settings. Within partnership, the Foundations Model establishes the proposition that the basic foundational skills for developing self-determination in later life require young children with disabilities to gain skills in (a) choice-making and problem solving, (b) self-regulation, and (c) engagement. In this position paper, the authors review literature related to these three foundational constructs and present a rationale for use of the Foundations Model as a guide to developing systematic interventions to start young students with disabilities on the road to building a foundation for self-determination.

Characteristics of Children with Prenatal Drug Exposure Being Served in Preschool Special Education Programs in New York City

This study examined the behavioral characteristics of 49 children in preschool special education programs in New York City. Twenty-nine of these children had been prenatally exposed to drugs, whereas 20 had no record of such exposure. The study employed three methods of data collection: participant observation, time sampling, and interviews with teaching staff. The observations and interviews focused on seven behavioral categories frequently referred to in literature on young children with prenatal drug exposure: mood, attachment (relationships), aggression, attention, movement (activity) level, organization and level of play, and language usage. The study found that the two groups differed in the hypothesized direction on total number of stereotypic characteristics. The drug-exposed group also displayed more anger, aggression, and unoccupied behavior. The most striking finding was the great variability within the drug-exposed group, with about half that sample bearing little or no resemblance to the stereotypic image and about one quarter strongly resembling it. This study was not designed to directly address the effects of prenatal drug exposure per se; much more information and control over the conditions of early care would have been necessary for that purpose. It did show that a subgroup within this population exhibits behavioral characteristics presenting a serious challenge that needs to be addressed by educators.

The Joy of Being: Making Way for Young Children's Natural Mindfulness.

This article offers a novel and timely context for understanding mindfulness practices in early childhood education. Positioned within a larger social context of mindfulness, we conducted an extensive systematic review of the literature to examine the scope and nature of mindfulness and early childhood. We found that mindfulness and young children constitute a growing area of interest globally which may be culturally determined as demonstrated in how these practices are perceived and implemented in early childhood settings. Although there was variability in the ways mindfulness practices were considered, all of the articles selected for this review discussed the positive outcomes associated with mindfulness for young children. Research and practice implications are offered.

Performance: A Strategy for Professional Development in Early Childhood Teacher Preparation

The purpose of this article is to propose performance as a creative instructional strategy to convey complex competencies related to understanding and working effectively with families in early childhood education. Performance derives from performance ethnography, which is a qualitative research methodology. Its application to professional development enables students and in-service participants not only to hear the voices of families, but to experience them through performance. This article describes the advantages and disadvantages of performance as an approach to professional development and illustrates the development and application of an example performance. Authors discuss how faculty, researchers, and those responsible for professional development can use performance to bridge the gap between research and practice and to move early childhood educators towards greater family-centered competencies when serving diverse families and children.

“It’s a Two-Way Street”: Examining How Trust, Diversity, and Contradiction Influence a Sense of Community

As interest in establishing and maintaining high-quality inclusive early childhood environments continues to grow, the population of children and families being served by these programs is becoming increasingly diverse. In response to these demographic and social trends, this study was conducted to explore how diversity is perceived within an early childhood inclusive environment. This participatory action research study was conceptualized and conducted over a 3-year period. Our collaborative research team, which reflected diversity across culture, race, gender, age, and professional discipline, used qualitative semistructured interviews to examine the question, “What does it mean to be fully inclusive across all aspects of diversity?” The research agenda and study implementation were shaped at every stage of the process through reaching consensus among the research team. Findings revealed the critical nature of trust and factors that contributed to and detracted from feelings of membership and community. Study participants identified opportunities and obstacles related to inclusive practices within their setting and expressed understandings and contradictions about the concept of diversity. Recommendations for practice and research that considered multiple aspects of diversity in early childhood are shared.

Community and Connection in Inclusive Early-Childhood Education A Participatory Action Research Investigation

I really like that everything is matter of fact. The fact that my son doesn’t talk as well as other kids—The other kids don’t even really pay attention. It may be a little harder for them to understand him sometimes but [he’s] just their friend. And that’s the beauty of inclusion too. That it’s dual-fold. The child in need has a model, which he desperately needed, but in turn the other children become tolerant and accepting of differences and don’t see them as different. That’s just the way [he] is. (Mother of a preschooler with disabilities.)