Jane Atwater

Developmentally Appropriate Practice Appraising Its Usefulness for Young Children with Disabilities

Recently, many educators have advocated the use of the Developmentally Appropriate Practice approach in preschool programs for young children who are developing normally, as well as for young children with special needs. This article reviews the rationales and basic premises of both the Developmentally Appropriate Practice approach and early childhood special education. We highlight areas in which developmentally appropriate practice guidelines overlap those of early childhood special education. We also point out the insufficiencies of these guidelines for planning, carrying out, and evaluating early childhood special education programs. We provide a selective literature review to clarify issues that still separate the two areas and discuss the implications of these divisions for future integration efforts. Finally, we offer suggestions for standards that should guide the evaluation of all programs that serve young children with disabilities.

Perspectives on the Transition from Preschool to Kindergarten for Children with Disabilities and Their Families

This article addresses the transition of young children from preschool programs that provide special education services to kindergarten or alternative elementary school placements. The roles of the child, family, and service providers in transition preparation, planning, implementation, and evaluation are described. Successful transitions include assessments of childrens skills in meeting the demands of kindergarten programs, teaching these skills to children, and actively encouraging parent participation in plans and programs. Barriers to successful transitions include lack of time and funding to coordinate both parent activities and between-school arrangements. A critical area for future research is the long-term evaluation of the procedures described as “best practice,” i>as well as the definition of what constitutes a successful transition.

Early Head Start: Identifying and Serving Children with Disabilities

Early Head Start (EHS) is a comprehensive, two-generation program that provides services to low-income families with children under the age of 3 years. As part of their mandate, staff members of EHS programs collaborate with other service providers in their local communities, including Part C and childcare providers. The incidence of disabilities among low-income children was tracked as part of the EHS Research and Evaluation Project. The incidence of indicators of disabilities (or potential disabilities) was extremely high (87%) among these very young children living in poverty; however, only 99 participating families (4.7% of the sample) received Part C services. Receipt of Part C services was related negatively to specific family characteristics (e.g., mother less well educated, being of color, not speaking English). Participation in EHS had a positive impact on receipt of Part C services.

Ecobehavioral analysis in the classroom: Review and implications

A rapidly developing area within applied behavior analysis that has implications for classroom instruction and behavior management is ecobehavioral analysis. Ecobehavioral analysis adds to behavior analysis the assessment of situational or contextual factors, such as classroom physical arrangements, instructional materials used by students, and teachers behavior. Its eventual importance and contribution to behavior analysis and to education, however, has yet to be realized. In fact, it is difficult to find adequate accounts of exactly what ecobehavioral analysis entails (Morris & Midgley, 1990). To date, it has led to a number of interesting contributions. These include the development and validation of specific classroom instructional procedures, the development of a number of approaches to the reduction of challenging behaviors, an improved understanding of the components of effective instruction including the identification of instructional risk factors within regular and special education, as well as providing a better understanding of how the quality of implementation functions as a mediating variable for student outcomes. In this paper, we discuss the theory and principles that support ecobehavioral analysis, review research literature concerning its use in educational settings, describe emerging applications by school personnel (e.g., teachers, school psychologists), and examine a number of future research directions and their implications.

Effects of Cumulative Prenatal Substance Exposure and Environmental Risks on Children's Developmental Trajectories

Examined the effects of cumulative prenatal substance exposure and cumulative environmental risk on the developmental trajectories of 278 infants, toddlers, and preschool children. Results indicated that both cumulative risk indexes were significantly correlated. Results also indicated that both indexes were related to decrements in developmental trajectories (intercept and slope) from 3 to 57 months of age. Both prenatal exposure and environmental risk added unique variance to the prediction of developmental level and rate of growth when entered after covariates (i.e., birth weight and sex). However, across a number of models with and without covariates, environmental risk accounted for more variance in developmental trajectories than did prenatal exposure. Implications are discussed.

Children's Individual Experiences in Early Care and Education: Relations with Overall Classroom Quality and Children's School Readiness.

This study examined relations among childrens individual experiences, global classroom quality, and school readiness. Preschool children from low-income backgrounds (N = 138; M = 62.16 months; SD = 3.93; range = 55−70) were observed in their early care and education settings, and their language and cognitive skills were assessed. Research Findings: Individual children in classrooms with small group sizes had higher quality individual experiences even though global classroom quality was not necessarily better. Higher levels of global classroom quality did not ensure that every child in the classroom was engaged fully in available interactions and activities. Children with disabilities were generally enrolled in classrooms with higher global quality and had higher quality individual experiences than those without disabilities; however, children without disabilities enrolled in these inclusive classrooms did not necessarily have a higher level of individual experiences than those in non-inclusive classrooms. Childrens individual experiences and the global quality of their classrooms were associated with their social skills. Only the quality of childrens individual experiences was found to be related to the quality of their relationships with teachers. Practice or Policy: Ratings of childrens individual experiences provide information beyond that provided by global ratings of classroom quality and have potential for informing efforts to individualize educational programs.

Developmentally Appropriate Practices and Early Childhood Special Education: A Reaction to Johnson and McChesney Johnson

In 1991, we published a paper in TECSE arguing that the guidelines set forth by the National Association for the Education of Young Children on Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) were necessary, but not sufficient, for evaluating programs serving young children with special needs. This paper met with some criticism, most recently in a paper by Johnson and McChesney Johnson (1992). That paper provided a theoretical defense of DAP for young children with disabilities and discussed objections to some early childhood special education (ECSE) practices from a developmental perspective. In the present article, we attempt to redirect the debate about the appropriateness of DAP for young children with disabilities from an exchange about the differences between the DAP guidelines and ECSE practices to a discussion of the many areas of overlap between these two rich sources of information about educational practices for young children.

Is a Response to Intervention (RTI) Approach to Preschool Language and Early Literacy Instruction Needed

Preschool experience plays a role in children’s development. However, for programs with language and early literacy goals, the question remains whether preschool instructional experiences are sufficiently effective to achieve these goals for all children. In a multisite study, the authors conducted a process-product description of preschool instruction, and children’s growth and outcomes in typical programs (i.e., Pre-K, Title 1, Head Start, Tuition-Based) using a response to intervention (RTI) perspective. Results indicated that (a) students in their preschool year prior to kindergarten made small gains, but students starting the year in lower Tier 2 and 3 performance levels did not close initial skills gaps, (b) variations were noted by program types with varying sociodemographics and instructional processes, and (c) the quality of instruction (Tier 1) received by all was low with room for improvement. Implications for future research on the application of the RTI approach and potential benefits are discussed.

Out of the laboratory and into the community. 26 years of applied behavior analysis at the Juniper Gardens Children's Project.

Application of Skinners principles to socially significant human behavior had been well articulated by 1968 (Baer, Wolf, & Risley, 1968). Applications of these principles by Baer, Wolf, Risley, Hall, Hart, Christophersen, and their colleagues were in evidence as early as 1964 in the homes, schools, and clinics of inner-city Kansas City, Kansas, at the Juniper Gardens Housing Project. The work continues relatively uninterrupted, having contributed extensively to the literature of applied behavior analysis and the lives of community residents. This article describes the project and illustrates how applied behavioral research was initiated and extended, how the work addressed general concerns in psychology, and how it continues to address contemporary concerns within the community.

Behavioral Outcomes of Young Children Prenatally Exposed to Illicit Drugs: Review and Analysis of Experimental Literature

The purpose of this article was to review the findings from existing peer-reviewed experimental studies describing the behavioral and developmental outcomes associated with prenatal exposure to illicit drugs. Forty-six such studies and 460 individual outcomes occurring from birth to 60 months were identified. Only half of these outcomes (49.8%) were statistically significant, indicating adverse effects of prenatal exposure. The greatest number of outcomes were identified for infants younger than 1 month of age and within the neurodevelopmental domain. The contrast between these outcomes derived from experimental studies and those reported in the popular press is discussed.