Objective A higher rate of depressive symptoms is found among mothers of children with disabilities compared to other parents. However, there is a lack of study of mothers with children <3 years of age participating in Early Intervention (EI) programs. This study aims to more fully describe the extent of mood disorders in these mothers including estimated prevalence, severity and factors associated with maternal mental health, using gold standard clinical diagnostic and symptom measures, and test models associating depressive symptoms with contextual factors and child behavior. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted with 106 women who had at least one child enrolled in EI. Mothers were interviewed and completed reliable, valid measures to evaluate mental health, health status, family conflict, parent-child interaction, self-efficacy, social support, child behavioral problems, hardship, endangerment, and child disability. Descriptive statistics and multivariate analyses were performed. Results We found 8 % of participants met all criteria for a Major Depressive Episode (MDE) with 44 % of the sample reporting a past episode and 43 % endorsing recurrent episodes. Using the CES-D to assess depressive symptom severity approximately 34 % of mothers screened in a clinically significant range. Using linear regression to predict severity of current depressive symptoms demonstrated that current depression severity was primarily predicted by poorer maternal health status, lower self-efficacy and past MDE (p < 0.05). Conclusions for practice A brief assessment of maternal mood, health and self-efficacy are important factors to assess when evaluating how to support mothers of children in EI.

To evaluate the relative effectiveness of two media for conveying narrative information, young children and adults were presented the same story via either television or radio. Subjects then retold the story to an adult from memory. Media differences were found, with children in the radio condition showing significantly more errors in comprehension and memory than children in the television condition. Both the erroneous inclusion of inaccurate story content and the distortion of actual story characteristics occurred more frequently for the purely aural than for the aural and visual. Although subjects in the radio condition showed greater recall of dialogue and sound effects than did subjects in the TV condition, the actual events recalled with dialogue or other auditory features tended not to be highly important to the overall theme.

Depression is a serious disorder with severe and far-reaching consequences. Two decades of observational research have shown robust associations between maternal depression and adverse consequences on offspring (Campbell et al., 2004; Campbell, Matestic, von Stauffenberg, Mohan, & Kirchner, 2007; Campbell, Morgan-Lopez, Cox, & McLoyd, 2009; National Research Council & Institute of Medicine, 2009). Depressive symptoms may pose particular risk to infants and toddlers with neurodevelopmental disabilities, whose long-term outcomes depend heavily on the provision of Early Intervention (EI). EI is most effective with active parental engagement. Maternal depressive symptoms may reduce parental engagement, thereby limiting EI benefits to the child (Gaynes, Gavin & Meltzer –Brody, 2005; O’Hara & Swain, 1996). At present, maternal mental health is not directly addressed in EI. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the literature and significance of maternal depression and apply that evidence to mothers of children with developmental delays and disabilities. We conclude that maternal mental health and well-being is currently insufficiently addressed in the EI population. An increased integration of mental health and EI services is needed to serve the unique needs of families who face an increased risk of stress and depression while coping with their child’s special needs.