Comparison of Achievement in Half-Day, Every-Day and All-Day, Alternate-Day Early Childhood Programs for Handicapped Children

Abstract

Because no report gives comparative performance of preschool handicapped children in all-day, alternate-day or half-day, every-day programs, in the present study the performance of 17 handicapped children from all-day, alternate-day programs was examined and 20 from half-day, every-day programs. Each child was given the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test—Revised, the California Preschool Social Competency Scale, and the Lollipop Test. Pretesting took place in September, 1984 and posttesting in May of 1985. The half-day, every-day children did not differ from the all-day, alternate-day students on posttest performance after controlling for entering differences. These results agree with reviewed research on the preschool population and suggest that, while instruction of quality is beneficial to preschool children, the delivery schedule of that instruction is of less importance.