EFFICACY OF PART-TIME AND FULL-TIME EARLY INTERVENTION

The effectiveness of an early intervention program to remediate develo pmental delays in children age birth to 3 years was examined in part- and full-time groups (Study 1). Significant improvements on age-approp riate measures of developmental standing were observed for both groups , with the greatest gains observed for the full-time group. In Study 2 , the stress of parents with developmentally delayed children was meas ured on the Parental Stress Inventory. Reductions in stress related to children's characteristics and dysfunctional parenting skills were ob served on some subscales, supporting prior research which indicated ex tension of the outcomes of early intervention beyond the child was des irable.