Working with Families of Young Children with Special Needs
This user-friendly book presents research-based best practices for serving families of children with special needs from birth to age 6. Expert contributors demonstrate how early intervention and early childhood special education can effectively address a wide range of family concerns, which in turn optimizes children's development and learning. Tightly edited, the volume offers indispensable tools for assessing families; identifying and capitalizing on their strengths; providing information, support, and coaching; collaborating with parents and teachers to address children's functional needs in the context of everyday routines; and coordinating care. Over a dozen reproducible checklists and forms help professionals immediately implement the techniques and strategies described.
R. A. McWilliam, PhD, is Director of the Center for Child and Family Research at Siskin Children’s Institute, a nonprofit organization for children, families, and professionals in Chattanooga, and Professor in the College of Health, Education and Professional Studies at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He develops interventions for young children with disabilities that always involve the children’s families; conducts research on the development of individualized family service plans, child engagement, and service delivery methods; and provides consultation, training, and technical assistance throughout the United States. Dr. McWilliam has served as Director of the Center for Child Development at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and as Senior Scientist at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is past president of the Division for Research of the Council for Exceptional Children, past editor of the Journal of Early Intervention, and the author or editor of several books.