Partnerships between parents of infants and toddlers with special needs and their service coordinators are developed within the context of early intervention program practices that can either support or hinder effective collaboration. The purpose of this study was to explore parents' and service coordinators' perceptions of program practices that affected collaboration. A qualitative analysis of responses to open-ended survey questions from 397 parents and 226 service coordinators yielded five categories and two subcategories related to (a) program philosophy and climate, (b) service delivery (including options for service delivery), (c) teaming approaches, (d) administrative policies and practices (including quality of program personnel), and (e) community context. This research has important implications for early intervention administrators who wish to design and deliver quality services to infants and toddlers with special needs and their families.

Parent-professional collaboration is an essential component of successful early intervention efforts. A collaborative relationship exists when both parents and professionals view each other as partners, with both providing expertise and knowledge that will help the family reach its goals. Although collaborative relationships are valued within early intervention, little is known about the variables that enhance or detract from collaboration. The purpose of this study was to examine parents' and service coordinators' (SCs) responses to two open-ended questions in a survey sent to over 1,400 parents and SCs. Survey respondents were asked to describe the variables that the other person in the partnership brings to the relationship that either enhance or interfere with collaboration. Survey results suggested that interpersonal and communication skills are critical for successful collaboration. The authors also discuss the microcounseling model, a model of behavioral consultation training that may be useful in preservice and inservice staff development efforts.

Access to childcare is a challenge for families of young children with special needs. A survey of early childhood personnel in northwestern Ohio identified early childhood personnel characteristics associated with an interest or willingness to care for these children. Most respondents were interested in caring for young children with special needs. More than one half of the respondents reported experience in caring for such children and most were confident about their ability to do so. Lack of knowledge regarding care requirements of young children with special needs was cited most often as a barrier to inclusive childcare. Differences between home- and center-based providers were identified. Implications of these findings for childcare staff training are discussed.

It is mandated by P.L. 99-457 that parents be active participants on their children's interdisciplinary teams (Nash, 1990). An important part of these teams' work is to assess children's developmental needs and plan programs accordingly. Because information from parents can contribute to this assessment, it is reasonable to examine the quality of that information. Historically, the quality of parents' information has been inferred from the degree of congruence between their judgments and those of professionals. Some previous research suggests that parents' estimates of their children's abilities are higher than those of professionals (Sheehan, 1988). The purpose of this study was to conduct a literature review of congruence between parental estimates and professionals' assessments and identify factors that might affect the degree of congruence. The results suggest that (a) there are strong, positive correlations between parental and professional judgments, and (b) methodology relates to the degree of congruence between parental and professional judgments. Several cautions regarding interpretations of the accuracy and validity of parents' judgments based upon congruence estimates are examined.Valid assessments of young children with disabilities are best made by collecting information from multiple sources. Bagnato and Neisworth (1991) described this process as convergent assessment, which has as its aim "the synthesis of information gathered from several sources, instruments, settings, and occasions to pro-

Naturalistic instruction procedures have broad philosophical and practical appeal and have been embraced with enthusiasm by many who teach about or practice early intervention. While there is general agreement that a number of intervention procedures may be characterized as naturalistic and there is empirical evidence to substantiate that many have been effectively applied, a number of research issues must be addressed if practitioners are to apply the results. Issues associated with definition of procedures (independent variables) and outcomes (dependent variables) confound the translation of research into practice. This article raises these issues and suggests guidelines for describing independent and dependent variables that might better enable practitioners to apply research in their work with young children with disabilities and with families.