Early identification of primary language delay is crucial to implement effective prevention programs. Available screening instruments are based on parents' reports and have only insufficient predictive validity. This study employed observational measures of preverbal infants' gestural communication to test its predictive validity for identifying…

A controversial issue in the field of language development is whether language emergence and growth is dependent solely on processes specifically tied to language or could also depend on basic cognitive processes that affect all aspects of cognitive competence (domain-general processes). The present article examines this issue using a large…

This investigation challenged the causal relationship implicit in the search for behavioral predictors in infancy of later intellectual ability and demonstrated the primacy of infant mental scale scores in the causation of later, more concrete physical behaviors. (Author/JMB)

Discriminant function analyses suggested that the most efficient predictors and accurate discriminators of continuing infant risk were: the Parmelee obstetric and postnatal complications scores and the Brazelton interactive and motoric process scores at birth; the Denver rating, mother-infant interaction, and Carey temperament ratings at 4 months;…

Longitudinal observations of maternal and infant characteristics were used to investigate the consequences of early day care intervention for infants at high risk for intellectual retardation due to sociocultural factors. (JMB)

This review of literature on infant habituation and recognition memory performance as predictors of later IQ concludes that the level of prediction is (1) substantial; (2) higher for at-risk than nonrisk children; and (3) not higher than the level of predictions based on parental education and socioeconomic status. (MDM)

The behavioral development of rural Guatemalan infants was assessed shortly after birth on a Neonatal Assessment Scale (NAS) and at 6-, 15-, and 24-months-of-age on a Composite Infant Scale (CIS). Summary variables based on NAS performance poorly predicted later assessed performance even as recently as six months after birth. The CIS modestly…

Scores on the Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME), designed to reflect parental support of early cognitive and social development, were correlated with elementary school achievement five to nine years later. Results supported the predictive value of the instrument for school achievement among low-income families. (Author/DB)