Mental health is a broad concept related to fundamental principles of psychological, social, and emotional development as they support positive child development.
Mental health is a broad concept related to fundamental principles of psychological, social, and emotional development as they support positive child development.
Despite a rich knowledge base on how children learn to read and write and how best to teach them, an alarming number of children with disabilities will reach adulthood having not attained literacy (Saint-Laurent, Giasson, and Couture, 1998).
Children with learning disabilities (LD) represent over half of those students in the United States identified for special education services during their elementary or secondary school years.
Jumpstart is a national organization that believes early literacy is a fundamental building block of success. Founded in 1993 by college students, parents, and Head Start staff, Jumpstart launched its first school-year program at Yale University.
The Journal of Early Intervention (JEI) is a peer-reviewed journal related to research and practice in early intervention.
Congress enacted the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1975 to govern the education of children with disabilities.
An Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) is a written document that provides the foundation for intervention for children with disabilities or at risk for having a substantial delay, aged birth through three years, and their families.
An Individualized Education Plan (IEP) represents specially designed instruction and related services that meet the unique needs of a student.
Recognizing the gifted and talented children in the United States has long been an ill-defined process. Lewis Terman (1916) was one of the first researchers to identify children of superior intellectual ability.
Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is one of the main threats to child health. FAS is a set of birth defects associated with prenatal alcohol exposure.
“Early intervention” as applied to early childhood education refers to policies, systems, programs, services, and supports provided to vulnerable young children and/or their families in order to maximize a child’s development.
The term Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) embodies a field characterized by grounded theory, practices, and applied research concerned with the causes and consequences of disability in the first eight years of life.
Among the most frequently utilized environment rating scales (ERS) in the United States are four developed by Thelma Harms, Richard M. Clifford, and Debby Cryer at the FPG Child Development Institute of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Down Syndrome is a developmental disability resulting from a chromosomal abnormality. It is the most common chromosomal disorder, occurring in approximately one out of every 800 to 1000 births.
Domestic violence can be defined as abuse or threats of abuse between adults in families. However, many researchers include all types of violence that a child witnesses as domestic violence.
The Division for Early Childhood (DEC) of the Council for Exceptional Children is a nonprofit, membership organization designed for individuals who work with or on behalf of children with special needs, from birth through age 8, and their families.
According to the CDC (2006), “Developmental disabilities affect approximately 17% of children younger than 18 years of age in the United States.”
The following listing briefly describes a range of conditions that can affect young children.
While all children grow and change at their own rate, some children can experience delays in their development.
Some 5,000 American families experience the birth of a deaf infant each year (Thompson et al., 2001).
The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) is a professional association dedicated to improving the educational success of children with disabilities and/or gifts and talents.
Early childhood professionals and programs play an important role in preventing—not just reporting—child abuse and neglect.
Child abuse and neglect is a serious problem that affects millions of children throughout the United States.
Cerebral palsy (CP) is a term used to describe a group of chronic disorders that impair control of movement.