DEVELOPMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF HIGH RISK CHILDREN AND ITS PSYCHOLOGICAL

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Those infants whose psychologycal and neurological development is retarded in early stages for some reason or who have a high potential for the occurrence of disabilities are termed high risk childen. Indexes of risk have been developed from various phases of development such as those for motion, psychological, and neurological development. Above all, birthweight is the most important index today. Children born prematurely are categorized as very low birthwaight infants with birthweight below 1500 grams and low birthweight infants with birthweight below 1000 grams.From clinical observation of developmental characteristics of high risk infants, the following points have been deduced :(1)The caource of development of high risk children showed complex characteristics and this was particularly conspicuous with children born with a weight of less than 1000g. In Tanaka-Binet and WISC-R IQ tests, the dispersion of IQs of the age group of 6 to 8 years tendedto slide to lower numbers and it was … More learned that differences in IQ may reflect the extent of risk. Also, imbalances are found to exist among the factors that constitute the IQ (e.g. : the relation between performance IQ and verbal IQ).(2)The view that high risk children may catch up with normal children at the age of 3 to 5 years has found partial support. However, close examination using the WISC-R and other tests attested to the fact that such "late blooming" may not be readily observable as mentioned in (1) above.(3)Factors other than neurological ones which are at the very root of such problems include those associated with the infant's nurturing environment in early stages of development. Of particular note here is the effect of hospitalization on infants under 1000g birthweight which must remain in the isolation of the ICU for an average of 5 to 6 months. Separation from mother for that period and loss of the associated fondling are considered factors that hinder healthy development.(4)Those high risk children whose birth weight was less than 1000g demonstrated restlessness, attention deficiency, mental instability, incompatibility in school and other behavioral problems. Improvement of retardation of high risk children including cases of retaradation attributable to brain damage or chlomosomal abnormality has been achieved by means of clinical and psychological treatment.(5)A total approach combining hospitals, welfare facilities, the children's parents, nurseries and educational facilities is important in order to effectively deal with the clinical challenges presented by high risk children. Less