EARLY ADOLESCENT FOLLOW-UP FOR HIGH RISK INFANTS

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This study is a follow-up to assess intellectual level, school achievement, self-esteem, adaptive behavior and family dynamics in a longitudinal sample of 90 or more early adolescents who were identified as infants as being at risk for mild retardation and school failure because of socioeconomic disadvantage. The design is a 2 X 2 factorial in which assignment to an experimental preschool educational intervention program and assignment to an early elementary school experimental intervention are the factors. Assignment to group was random in both phases. The design permits comparison of early adolescent outcomes for subjects in the three earlier experimental treatment conditions with those of subjects in the control group. Status of the high-risk adolescents will also be compared to that of a random sample of same-age children from the local population. Subjects were identified as being at risk on the basis of a High Risk Index measuring such factors as parental education, IQ, and income. Preschool intervention consisted of educational day care beginning in early infancy. School-age intervention consisted of having a Home/School Resource Teacher who served as a liaison between the high-risk family and the classroom teacher. Preschool intervention significantly raised treated children's IQ scores above those of the control group and the effect on IQ continues through the early school years. There was an effect on preschool assignment on achievement scores as well. Final effects of the school-age assignment are not yet known, but based on data from 3/4 of the sample, the trends suggest that the school-age treatment had a stronger effect on school achievement than on IQ. Funds are sought to permit a follow-up of the children after seven years in public school (typically sixth grade), the point of transition from elementary school into junior high school. Early adolescence is a critical time for establishng a sense of mastery and self-esteem. The present study will permit an examination of the effects of early and continuing educational intervention upon self-esteem, sense of mastery and social behaviors at school and at home, as well as upon the more traditional IQ and achievement outcomes. An extensive body of existing data will also permit examination of the effects of many early childhood variables upon child status variables measured in early adolescence.