The purpose of this manuscript was to describe a community-based program, Language and Play Everyday (LAPE), aimed at evaluating effective practices for enhancing parents’ capacity to increase their toddlers’ communication skills. LAPE was a parent education program focused on coaching parents to embed naturalistic language-enhancing strategies within daily routines. Participants included eight families of toddlers with expressive communication delays ranging in age from 22 to 36 months. LAPE was delivered using group and individual sessions. After participating in the program, parents increased their responsivity and use of other language-enhancing behaviors. Social validity measures indicated that parents were satisfied with procedures, goals, and outcomes of the project. Moreover, children improved their expressive language skills. Implications for future research and application are discussed.

The lack of speech language pathologists (SLPs) trained to provide effective interventions to young children with special needs is a pressing need in elementary and preschools. Young children with communication delays need early identification and focused, effective research-based interventions to prevent, to the greatest extent possible, future problems. In addition to being knowledgeable about early risk factors and developmental disparities, SLPs must be trained to work collaboratively in settings with early interventionists, early childhood special educators, and other specialists to offer family-guided, culturally competent, empirically based, interdisciplinary, and comprehensive services (Crais et al., 2004;Hemmeter et al., 2005).According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association's (ASHA) Ad Hoc Committee on the role of the speech language pathologist in early intervention, SLPs working with young children should participate in (a) prevention; (b) screening, evaluation, and assessment; (c) planning, implementing, and monitoring intervention; (d) consultation with and education for team members, including families and other professionals; (e) service coordination; (f) transition planning; (g) advocacy; and (h) advancing the knowledge base in early intervention. (ASHA, 2008, p. 9)These activities should be implemented in collaboration with families, caregivers, and other professionals. Thus, course content and field experiences should include multiple and varied opportunities to gain knowledge and master skills related to providing interdisciplinary supports to young children and their families. However, to efficiently meet national standards as outlined by ASHA's Standards for Certification in Speech-Language Pathology, most SLP training programs are designed to produce generalists who work across disabilities, ages (i.e., birth to geriatric), and environments (i.e., clinics, schools, hospitals), and often have little to no content related to young children with special needs and their families (Campbell, Chiarello, Wilcox, & Milbourne, 2009). The majority of SLPs are not prepared to work in early intervention and preschool settings, and frequently self-report low levels of competency related to working in these settings (Campbell et al., 2009;Roberts, Crais, Layton, Watson, & Reinhartsen, 1995). Furthermore, few SLP personnel preparation programs provide an interdisciplinary focus, the cornerstone to effective services for young children with special needs and their families (Chen, Klein, & Lavada, 2009). The shortage of SLPs trained to work with young children is a serious nationwide problem requiring incentive programs and other innovative personnel preparation and 434567T EC32110.1177/0271121411434567Barton et al.Topics in Early Childhood Special Education

A random sample of 967 early intervention providers in 33 different states completed a telephone survey that was conducted with computer-assisted telephone interview technology. The survey solicited information about the service providers' views of assistive technology (AT) for infants and toddlers with disabilities. In particular, questions elicited information regarding the use of AT, factors important to making decisions about AT, access to resources (e.g., funding, lending libraries), and provider training about AT in early intervention. Data were analyzed for the group as a whole, for specific disciplines, and in terms of the amount of training providers reported they had about AT in early intervention. Results indicated similar response patterns across disciplines, but differences in terms of reported training.

Purpose Speech-language pathologists are responsible for providing culturally and linguistically responsive early language intervention services for legal, ethical, and economic reasons. Yet, speech-language pathologists face challenges in meeting this directive when children are from racial, ethnic, or linguistic backgrounds that differ from their own. Guidance is needed to support adaptation of evidence-based interventions to account for children's home culture(s) and language(s). This review article (a) describes a systematic review of the adaptation processes applied in early language interventions delivered to culturally and linguistically diverse populations in the current literature and (b) offers a robust example of an adaptation of an early language intervention for families of Spanish-speaking Mexican immigrant origin. Method Thirty-three studies of early language interventions adapted for culturally and linguistically diverse children ages 6 years and younger were reviewed. Codes were applied to describe to what extent studies document the purpose of the adaptation, the adaptation process, the adapted components, and the evaluation of the adapted intervention. Results Most studies specified the purpose of adaptations to the intervention evaluation, content, or delivery, which typically addressed children's language(s) but not culture. Study authors provided limited information about who made the adaptations, how, and when. Few studies detailed translation processes or included pilot testing. Only one used a comprehensive framework to guide adaptation. A case study extensively documents the adaptation process of the Language and Play Every Day en español program. Conclusions Future early language intervention adaptations should focus on both linguistic and cultural factors and include detailed descriptions of intervention development, evaluation, and replication. The case study presented here may serve as an example. Increased access to such information can support research on early language interventions for diverse populations and, ultimately, responsive service provision.

T o understand the role of early intervention (EI) practitioner confidence in the use and application of assistive technology (AT), a 24-item Assistive Technology Confidence Scale (ATCS) was developed and distributed to EI personnel. This article reports on the development and psychometric properties of the ATCS and the relation between scores on the ATCS, years of experience, education, and overall practitioner self-efficacy. Analyses revealed that the ATCS is a reliable measure of AT confidence in three service domains: application and use of AT, AT assessment, and accessing information about AT and AT resources. EI practitioners with more than 10 years of experience were more confident in AT service provision than EI practitioners with less experience. The ATCS was positively related to overall EI practitioner selfefficacy. Implications for the application of the ATCS for EI research and training are discussed.