ISBN:  Unavailable

Category: Unavailable

Page count: 30

This study examines the effects of in-service education on caring for preschool children with disabilities. Caregiving behaviors and self-perceptions of caregivers who did or did not receive training were evaluated. A 2-year, pretest/posttest, experimental-control group design was used to compare the effects of live and videotaped training conditions and no-training conditions. No significant difference was found in the performance of the two groups between year one, when there was live training, and year two, when they received videotaped training. There was no difference between the groups in caregiving behaviors that would promote physical development, but there was significant difference in caregiving behavior for promoting communication development, cognitive development, social/emotional development, and literacy. Compared to those who received no training, caregivers who received either live or videotaped training were more confident about their knowledge and abilities when the training project was over. In general, this study found that training resulted in significant changes in caregiving behaviors and self-ratings regardless of whether caregivers had live or videotaped training, by either a multidisciplinary team of experienced professionals or by graduate students. Results suggest that a single professional can be as effective as a multidisciplinary professional team when training combines multimedia presentations with on-site visits. (Contains 30 references.) (As).