Enhancing Head Start Readiness for High-Risk Children

描述(由申请人提供)： 这一建议建立在这样一个假设之上，即高危儿童往往无法从Head Start或其他早期教育计划中受益，因为他们在认知、情感和社交方面缺乏准备，特别是在注意力、依恋、接受性和生产性语言、掌握动机和自我调节方面。我们建议改进和整合现有的最好的家长培训单元，以促进450名第一出生的儿童形成一系列相互依赖的发展技能，最终加强自我调节和学习前技能。由于我们的整体干预措施的组成部分，进步更快、更成功的儿童应该准备好更充分地利用Head Start计划(如学业前阅读和数学技能所显示的)，与控制条件下或治疗条件下在实现这些发展里程碑方面不太成功的儿童相比，他们应该更充分地利用Head Start计划。我们提出了一项复杂的干预措施，涉及至少三个贫困儿童严重集中的研究地点。干预的重点是从出生到4岁的第一个出生的高危儿童的父母和照顾者。这三个条件是：(1)注意力控制，(2)专业的干预，和(3)由训练有素的志愿者组成的干预。每个治疗条件将在单元1和单元2实施后18个月细分：一半的参与者将接受单元3和4(在36个月时结束)，而另一半的参与者将接受定期的强化训练。这种操作将使我们能够判断在很长一段时间内持续干预的必要性，继续提高父母的能力，以支持儿童在生命的头3年的发展。在该项目为期4年的时间里，将每年评估5个发展里程碑和育儿信念(和实践)。此外，每个站点将进行一个子项目，其中可能影响干预效果的因素被衡量(即，南本德的药物滥用；莫比尔的冲突关系；新奥尔良的抑郁和影响监管)。横断面和纵向分析(HLM)将被用来评估干预的有效性，“成功”的预测因素和相关因素，以及父母和照顾者的变化与儿童发展里程碑成就的相互关系。简而言之，由于根深蒂固的贫困和缺乏刺激性的家庭环境，大多数Head Start项目--即使是那些课程丰富的项目--可能对高危儿童的学前教育技能影响很小。因此，我们建议及早进行全面的干预，帮助这些儿童为先行计划“作好准备”，从而增加他们在学校取得成功的机会。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal is built around the hypothesis that at-risk children often fail to profit from Head Start or other early education programs because they are cognitively, emotionally, and socially unprepared, especially in areas of attention, attachment, receptive and productive language, mastery motivation, and self-regulation. We propose to refine and integrate the best of existing parent training modules so as to foster the emergence of a sequence of interdependent developmental skills in 450 first-born children, culminating in enhanced self-regulation and pre-academic skills. Children who progress more rapidly and successfully because of the components of our overall intervention should be "ready" to take fuller advantage of Head Start programs (as shown in pre-academic reading and math skills) when compared with children in a control condition or with children in the treatment conditions who are less successful in achieving these developmental milestones. We propose a complex intervention, across at least three research sites that have heavy concentrations of children living in poverty. The intervention will focus on the parents and caregivers of first-born at-risk children from birth to age 4. The three conditions are: (1) an attentional control, (2) a professionally delivered intervention, and (3) an intervention staffed by trained volunteers. Each of the treatment conditions will be subdivided at 18 months after modules 1 and 2 have been implemented: one half of the participants will receive modules 3 and 4 (ending at 36 months of age) whereas the other half will receive periodic booster sessions. This manipulation will enable us to judge the necessity of continuing interventions over a long time span, continuing to increase parenting competencies in support of child development across the first 3 years of life. Assessments of 5 developmental milestones and parenting beliefs (and practices) will be taken yearly during the 4 year duration of the project. In addition, each site will conduct a subproject in which factors likely to influence intervention effectiveness are measured (i.e., substance abuse in South Bend; conflicted relationships in Mobile; depression and affect regulation in New Orleans). Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses (HLM) will be used to assess intervention effectiveness, the predictors and correlates of "success", and the interrelationships been changes in parents and caretakers and the achievement of developmental milestones by children. In short, most Head Start programs--even those with enriched curricula--are likely to produce minimal changes in the pre-academic skills of high-risk children, because of entrenched poverty and non-stimulating home environments. Hence, we propose to conduct a comprehensive, early intervention in order to give these children a better chance of eventual school success by helping to "ready" them for Head Start.