In the 1990s, the developing field of early intervention with young children with disabilities and their families adopted family-centred practice as its philosophical foundation. Family-centred practice includes three key elements: (1) an emphasis on strengths, not deficits;(2) promoting family choice and control over desired resources; and (3) the development of a collaborative relationship between parents and professionals. During the last two decades, the field of early childhood disability has successfully defined the working principles of family-centred practice for practitioners. Although research has acknowledged that the paradigm shift to family-centred practice is neither simple nor easy, a substantive body of evidence demonstrates that (a) family-centred practice can be linked to a wide range of demonstrated benefits for both children and families, and (b) families are more satisfied and find familycentred practice to be more helpful than other models of practice.

No abstract

As a society we are just beginning to address the logical outcome of community integration: People with mental retardation may marry and choose to have children. In this article, which is a review and synthesis of research from a variety of fields, possible answers to three questions are explored: (1) What are the myths surrounding parents with mental retardation? (2) In what ways can the life experiences of adults with mental retardation impact their parenting? and (3) What are the characteristics of an early intervention program that responds to the needs of parents with mental retardation? The answers to these questions are crucial in creating the context in which early interventionists can respect and build partnerships with parents with mental retardation.

No abstract

The analyses described in this paper permitted an evaluation of whether capacity-building professional development practices were related to early childhood intervention practitioners' reported use of capacity-building family-centered practices. This was ascertained by structural equation modeling for two different types of family-centered practices (participatory and relational) where the two models were compared to determine the better fitting model and the sizes of effects for the relationships among the variables in the models. Results provided converging evidence that capacity-building professional development engenders practitioners' use of capacity-building family-centered practices. Implications for practice are described.