Efficacy Studies in Early Childhood Special Education: An Overview

Swan, William W.

doi:10.1177/105381518100400102

Cited by 18 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 1 publication

(1 reference statement)

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“…It appears that a majority of recent early childhood handicapped programs are focusing on the demonstration of individual model and program efficacy (Swan, 1981). That is, they are evaluating themselves in terms of participant gains apart from any interprogram comparisons.…”

Section: Early Curriculum Effectsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Broad impacts of early childhood curriculum models on nonintellective processes

Gotts¹

1983

Topics in Early Childhood Special Education

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F OR NEARLY 20 years, early childhood education has been involved in unending curriculum and program experimentation. As a result dozens of curriculum models have been developed (Fallon, 1973; Goodson & Hess, 1975). All of the better designed experiments have included some assessment of their effects on children's intellective processes. Yet, they have for the most part had from much less to little or nothing to say about experimental effects on nonintellective processes such as self-help and social skills, improved family functioning, and increased parental self-confidence (Bronfenbrenner, 1974;Ryan, 1974). EARLY CURRICULUM EFFECTSIn the early years of this outpouring of experimentation, developers claimed that programs based on their particular models would have special merits in terms of both specific and total child outcomes. Their belief in these claims was strengthened by their successes in showing that their respective programs worked better than no program at all for young children from disadvantaged back-TECSE, 1983,2(4), 43-50

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Section: Early Curriculum Effectsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Broad impacts of early childhood curriculum models on nonintellective processes

Gotts¹

1983

Topics in Early Childhood Special Education

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“…There have also been dozens of attempts to integrate the findings of those studies in &dquo;reviews of the literature.&dquo; In spite of these past efforts, policy makers, program administrators, and researchers continue to call for effective reviews of this massive body of literature (Black & Hutinger, 1981;Swan, 1981). In this paper, we argue that one of the most serious problems with previous reviews of early intervention efficacy has been the failure to learn from past efforts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Learning From Reviews of Early Intervention

1985

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Reviews of the literature are frequently advocated to advance knowledge in the social sciences. Unfortunately, most reviewers do not explicitly consider or attempt to learn from what previous reviewers of the same or closely related topics have done. This omission is inconsistent with good scientific practice and is significantly detrimental to advancing knowledge. Using 52 previous reviews of the early intervention efficacy literature as an example, this article demonstrates the value of systematically considering previous reviews before initiating a new review. The results establish a foundation that should be particularly helpful to future reviewers of the early intervention efficacy literature and demonstrate a process that should be used by reviewers in all areas.The process of scientific inquiry presupposes that scientists will carefully consider what other scientists have done in the same or closely related areas (Kuhn, 1962). Such an analysis serves three general purposes. First, an examination of previous work helps to determine whether there is a need for further scientific inquiry. Second, understanding what is known in a particular area is necessary so that ongoing work can be appropriately delimited and is not inconsistent with or unnecessarily duplicative of established facts. Finally, an examination of previous work often results in insights which can be used to improve the procedures for the work being planned. In this way, procedural strengths of previous work can be emphasized and weaknesses avoided.The value of reviewing previous work in the same or related areas is widely recognized. Consequently, almost all reports of primary research from theses and dissertations to articles published in referred journals begin with a brief &dquo;review of the literature.&dquo;The parallels between conducting primary research and attempting to integrate and draw conclusions from previously completed Downloaded from 418 topics is seldom done in reports of &dquo;literature reviews.&dquo; For example, in an analysis of 52 reviews of the early intervention efficacy literature, we found that only 10 reviewers cited more than three previous reviews, and nobody critically examined the procedures and conclusions of previous reviews and described how their review would differ from or improve on previous work. Similar results were reported by White, Baer, and Myette (1982) in their analysis of the literature on interventions for hyperactivity.Using the literature on the efficacy of early intervention as an example, the purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the value of systematically analyzing previous reviews of the literature as an initial step in conducting an integrative review.

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“…Efforts directed toward developing interventions for young handicapped children are guided by the premise that greater benefit of intervention will come from a program which actively involves parents in program implementation (Bronfenbrenner, 1975). As intervention programs for young handicapped children have become more prevalent, the need for tools to document and evaluate the effectiveness of specific intervention strategies has received increased attention (Garwood, 1981;Sheehan, 1982;Swan, 1981;Wang & Ellett, 1982;Zigler & Balla, 1982). RATIONALE Our purpose is to describe a measure of parents' interaction skills with their children and to explain the need for this measure.…”

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confidence: 98%

Teaching Skills Inventory: A Measure of Parent Performance

Rosenberg¹,

Robinson²,

Beckman

1984

Journal of the Division for Early Childhood

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The increase in the number of infants and toddlers served in early childhood special education programs has been accompanied by recognition of a need for varied tools for evaluation of the efficacy of such projects. One of the dimensions by which such programs can be evaluated is the extent to which the parent acquires teaching skill as a result of instruction, In this article the authors report on their work in the development of a Teaching Skills Inventory, a measure which has been used to assess changes in parents' performance as teachers of their own children.

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Efficacy Studies in Early Childhood Special Education: An Overview

Cited by 18 publications

References 1 publication

Broad impacts of early childhood curriculum models on nonintellective processes

Broad impacts of early childhood curriculum models on nonintellective processes

Learning From Reviews of Early Intervention

Teaching Skills Inventory: A Measure of Parent Performance

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