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A report is presented on an outreach project that assisted in the development and implementation of early intervention programs, special education, and related services for children with disabilities (ages birth to five). The Magnolia Circle Outreach Project disseminated and helped replicate a "best practices" model to improve the quality of programs and services in six states. During a 3-year period, technical assistance and training were provided to 138 programs in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi, and support or expanded outreach services were also provided to 76 programs in Tennessee. Assistance provided to community programs, agencies, and local education agencies focused on program self-assessment, regional networks for sharing information and support, local and regional training and technical assistance, and transition of key components to appropriate personnel within agencies. Appended materials include: Outreach activities for each state during 1991-1994, a self-assessment form for evaluating early childhood special education programs; a planning guide to use in conjunction with the self-assessment form; information on outreach presentations and inservice trainings; and evaluation data for outreach activities such as the video library, newsletter, and workshops. (SW)

The Preschool Orientation and Mobility Project had four major goals as part of its model development activities: (1) develop an Orientation and Mobility (O&M) curriculum for visually impaired and visually impaired/multiply handicapped infants and children, aged 0-5; (2) develop two O&M screening instruments; (3) develop an O&M information pamphlet for families; and (4) explore the use of microcomputers and the "Sonicguide" as interventions. Project administration activities involved: identification and referral of Project children; identification of an appropriate assessment battery for use in screening, assessment, and programming; identification of critical elements in structuring classroom and home environments; operation of a service delivery system involving home, classroom, and resource center components; and staff development. Evaluation activities focused on developmental gains of the children, appropriateness of the assessment battery and family pamphlet, facilitation of novel route travel by the microcomputer application and facilitation of systematic search patterns by the "Sonicguide" staff knowledge and satisfaction; parent satisfaction; and effective resource usage. Other activities included parent involvement, replication procedures, and project information dissemination. The report's appendices contain training modules on classroom environmental arrangements and use of practicum students, a field test procedures manual, examples of questionnaires and data sheets, etc. (Author/JDD)