The standard model of the role of early experience in human development assumes that children's environments in their first years of life are dominant influences on who they become as adults. The standard model favors interventions to improve children's long-term outcomes that start early in life and are intensive in time and attention from…

This study assessed whether two persons with developmental disabilities would be able to actively perform simple occupational activities by controlling their favorite environmental stimulation using battery-free wireless mice with a newly developed object location detection program (OLDP, i.e., a new software program turning a battery-free…

Longitudinal data from 51 children with Down syndrome reared at home and participating in an infant stimultion program were evaluated. Results suggest that infant stimulation programs along with home rearing and training have improved the functions of children with Down syndrome. (Author/CL)

Findings from two research syntheses of the relationship between caregiver sensitivity and secure infant attachment and one research synthesis of factors associated with increased caregiver use of a sensitive interactional style are presented. The main focus of analysis was the extent to which different measures of caregiver contingent social…

The report discusses achievements of a preschool project offering infant stimulation, occupational therapy, and consultative and referral services to handicapped children and their families. Attainment of objectives in the areas of staff development, parent training, child services, and demonstration/dissemination is discussed; and tables list…

This study evaluated the Columbus (Ohio) Children's Hospital vision stimulation program, involving in-home intervention with 15 visually impaired infants. Comparison with controls indicated benefits of appropriate vision stimulation in increasing the neural foundation for vision and visual-motor function in visually impaired infants. (Author/DB)

Described is a project in which poor Black and White parents were trained by paraprofessional visitors to use simple stimulation activites with their infants. Results of Stanford-Binet Scores at age 6 are said to indicate that four of the seven experimental groups scored significantly higher than control groups; and followup at grade 3 indicated…

Follow-up study of 4- to 14-year-old children (N=42) who had participated in a home-based infant stimulation program indicated that approximately 66 percent of subjects (most of whom had serious developmental disabilities) were in special education programs full-time, 20 percent were mainstreamed, and 15 percent were in regular classrooms…

Examined was the effect of low frequency auditory and kinesthetic stimulation on the sleep behavior of seven premature normal infants. Stimulation consisted of positioning in a rockerbed and exposure to a recorded heartbeat for 15 minutes an hour. Measured were Ss's sleep wakefulness, weight change, and gestational development. Analysis of the…

The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and the Canadian Mothercraft Society completed the first year of their 3-year day care demonstration project for advantaged and disadvantaged infants from 3 to 30 months of age. The program was designed to facilitate infants' cognitive, personality, and social development through personalized…

Presented are the final reports of a two-part project designed to measure the effect of an intensive inpatient developmental program on 40 young multi-handicapped children (18-36 months old) and their parents. Part 1 describes a system developed and tested to record and analyze changes in child functioning. Reported are results from…

Mothers of 23 infants with developmental disabilities were given suggestions for ways to interact in a contingently responsive manner. Compared to a control group, the interaction coaching group mothers increased responsivity and decreased stimulation, and the infants were less fussy and performed better on developmental assessments. (Author/JDD)

A home-based, computer-monitored contingency intervention program was developed to provide a source of cognitive and motivational stimulation to infants with handicaps. Equipment includes a computer, contingency interface, software, adaptive toys, switches, and a mounting panel. Learning was exhibited by 19 of 20 infants, and parental response was…