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Early childhood education and special education have shared the responsibility of educating young infants and toddlers at risk since Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) established the concept of war on poverty. One component of the war on poverty in the early 1960s was Head Start, a compensatory program that was a major feature of the plan to break the cycle of poverty in the United States. Head Start provides educational, social, medical, dental, and mental health services to low income preschool children (Brewer, 1995). The mandatory support for infants and toddlers was a significant part of the reauthorization of PL 94-142 in 1966 that brought about PL 99-457, which is concerned with the family of the youngsters with special needs as well as the child. This law clearly promotes parent-professional collaboration and partnership (Garguiulo, 2003). It also helps to identify children at birth and children at risk as those in need of early intervention services. Parents are very important participants in the special education process. They know their child better than anyone else and have valuable information to contribute about the kinds of programs and services that are needed for their child to be successful in school. This chapter/site has been written so that parent, educators, and students will feel comfortable and can better participate in the educational decision-making process that a child with a disability may have about special education.
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