Dale Borman Fink, Ph.D.

School age care staff are asked to rethink their attitudes of behavior and discipline in children. When there are chronic behavior problems, is there something about the environment which can be changed to improve behavior? This question and others are addressed as Fink explains the “Six Key Elements of a School-Age Care Program.”

Dale Borman Fink, the author of the only book on inclusion of youth with special needs in after school child care, now presents the first book to examine the experiences of children with disabilities participating in youth programs alongside their typical peers. Using a case study technique, he probes into the issues and dynamics that influence the increasing participation of kids with disabilities in such activities as Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and park and recreation programs.

This book resulted from a national search for models of before- and after-school child care that served children and youth with disabilities. After an opening section which summarizes the results of a national parent survey, there are separate chapters that profile home-based (family child care) models, public school-operated models, models operated in partnership between schools and other organizations, and community-based models. Appendices include parent and provider surveys resource listings, and a quality checklist. At the time the book was published, the author was a research associate at the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women and editor of a nationally circulated newsletter on policy and practice in school age child care. The study was the first of its kind and the book remains the only one published on this subject.