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The present study investigated the measurement integrity of data collected using the Family Needs Survey (FNS). The data provided by 53 mothers of children with disabilities were subject to both classical test theory analyses and to factor analysis. The areas that the mothers considered "definite" needs were also compared with similar analyses conducted in a previous study. Results suggest that the FNS yields reasonably valid data regarding family needs.The current trend in early childhood special education is to provide services for infants and toddlers within the context of the family (Bailey, 1988). This is perhaps a result of mounting recognition that the family is the most influential of all the social groups that shape behavior, and a result of increasing regard for the systemic nature of family dynamics involving complex interactions (Robinson, Rosenberg, & Beckman, 1988; Turnbull, Summers, & Brotherson, 1984; Vogel & Bell, 1968; Weissbourd, 1988). Families of infants and toddlers with disabilities may be particularly affected by the unexpected demands and adjustments required in families experiencing the arrival of a child with exceptionalities (Huntington, 1988). As resources are depleted and new problems or developmental difficulties emerge, needs are created. Dunst, Trivette, and Deal (1988, p. 13, emphasis in original) define a need as "an individual's judgment of the discrepancy between actual states or conditions and what is normative, desired, or valued from a help seeker's . . . perspective." The Education of the Handicapped Act Amendments of 1986 (Public Law 99-457) and IDEA of 1990 acknowledge the need to enrich the competencies of families for the benefit of infants and toddlers (0-3 years old) with disabilities. P.L. 99-457 conceptualizes early intervention as including a variety of services that may be rendered singly or in combination, depending on the unique needs of the individual infant or toddler and the toddler's family. The law mandates the collaborative development of individualized family service plans (IFSPs) by parents and professionals. IFSPs are to include a statement of the family's needs related to enhancing the development of the infant or toddler. Specific

Home economists involved in research and intervention with families need measures with which to explore family functioning. The utility of such measures turns, of course, on the measurement integrity of the scores that given protocols yield. The present study was conducted to explore the measurement characteristics of scores from one potentially useful measure, the Perceived Adequacy of Resources (PAR) Scale. The reliability and the validity of PAR total and subtest scores were evaluated using data from 113 mothers. Sixty of these families included children who were typically developing, whereas 53 families included a child with either a disability or a developmental delay. Results were generally favorable regarding the integrity of scores from the measure.

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