Critical Issues Underlying Research and Intervention with Families of Young Handicapped Children

Abstract

Although family involvement is a fundamental premise of early intervention, effective implementation has been hampered by a number of critical needs: (1) the need for a defensible rationale for family involvement, consistent with both research and practice, (2) the need for caution in defining desired family outcomes, (3) the need to view families from a developmental perspective, (4) the need to view families within ecological contexts, (5) the need to account for variability in family composition or structure, and (6) the need for an adequate system for assessing family needs. In this article each need is elucidated, research pertinent to each is reviewed, and the implications of each for researchers and practitioners are discussed.