Forty-seven infants at-risk for mental retardation were divided into a group that received early day-care intervention and a matched control group that did not. (Author)

It is argued that intergenerational poverty has devastating effects on families and children; and intensive targeted interventions in the first five years of life are effective in preventing intellectual dysfunction resulting from poverty. Issues related to developing and implementing national efforts to prevent environmentally induced handicaps…

A study involving 2,929 Head Start children found that 8% transitioned into special education during kindergarten and showed divergent patterns of receptive language development. Head Start children in special education differed from children in general education based on child demographic, intellectual, behavioral, and health factors. (Contains…

Described are the general procedures and features of the Frank Porter Graham Center's program to prevent retardation by supplementing the lives of poverty level children beginning within 3 months of birth. The goals of the program are noted to include understanding more about the effects of one particular strategy (daycare) on basic biological,…

Summarizes rationale for early childhood educational intervention efforts and describes the Carolina Abcedarian Project: a longitudinal, early educational program providing supplemental preschool experiences designed to prevent the cumulative and progressive decline in intellectual and socially adaptive behavior shown by children from extreme…

A study compared 422 Head Start children with a putative diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with typical Head Start children from kindergarten through third grade. Children with putative ADHD who had received medications were significantly more likely to be found eligible for special education than non-medicated children.…

A study examined the identification rate of mental retardation, learning disabilities, speech or language impairments, and emotional disturbance of 4,161 Head Start children as they completed first grade. Only 26% of the children meeting research diagnostic criteria in these four major categories were identified by the schools. (Author/CR)

A group of 162 out of 5,400 former Head Start children were identified at the end of third grade as highest achieving and thriving both socially and academically. Families of these children had somewhat more resources on which to call and somewhat fewer stresses. Caretakers of high achievers ascribed to more positive parenting attitudes and were…

The effects of early educational intervention on the attainment of the Piagetian cognitive stage of concrete operations by 86 socioeconomically disadvantaged children aged 5, 6, and 7 years were assessed. The Concept Assessment Kit-Conservation developed by M. L. Goldschmid and P. M. Bentler (1968) was used. (SLD)

Patterns of speech from lower socioeconomic status mothers to their infants were analyzed to determine correlations with infant risk of mental retardation. Measures of maternal language included sentence form, amount of speech, and syntactic complexity. The proportion of imperatives was positively correlated with risk status and negatively…

The degree to which intellectual development can be enhanced by systematic early educational intervention, and the relative power of early versus later intervention as a preventive measure against mild retardation and academic failure, were the central issues tested in the Carolina Abecedarian Project. The project was designed for infants and…