Recommended outcomes for families of young children with disabilities

The Early Childhood Outcomes (ECO) Center was funded by the Office of Special Education Programs to promote the development and implementation of child and family outcome measures for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with disabilities. An evidence-based process with extensive stakeholder input led to the identification of five outcomes by which the effectiveness of services for families could be assessed: (a) families understand their child's strengths, abilities, and special needs; (b) families know their rights and advocate effectively for their child; (c) families help their child develop and learn; (d) families have support systems; and (e) families are able to gain access to desired services and activities in their community. These outcomes provide a framework by which states and the federal government could document whether early intervention and preschool programs are providing demonstrable benefits for families, and provide the basis for developing measurement systems to determine the extent to which such benefits have been attained.