Ramey

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Ramey Ramey (1998)

• Early Intervention activities designed to
  enhance a young childs development
• Initial evaluation of childs abilities and needs
  (in context of family)
• Appropriate resources and services
• Monitoring and evaluation of development and
  changes
• The risk for mental retardation and poor school
  readiness is highest among children from the
  lowest SES background.

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• Poor school readiness predicts
• low level of academic achievement
• grade retention (depending on school policy)
• special-education placement
• school dropout
• These children are at risk for
• teen pregnancy
• juvenile delinquency
• unemployment
• social dependency
• becoming poor parents
• having children who repeat the pattern

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• Levels of Intervention to Promote Change
• Family level
• housing
• income
• lifestyle
• Parental level
• job training
• management skills
• adult education
• Child level
• early childhood education
• specific therapies

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• Principles of Program Efficacy
• Developmental timing interventions that begin
  earlier and last longer are more beneficial
• Program intensity more intensive programs
  produce larger positive effect
• Direct provision of learning experiences direct
  experiences show larger and more enduring
  benefits than do intermediary routes, e.g.,
  parent training

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• Principles of Program Efficacy
• Program depth and flexibility comprehensive
  services using multiple routes have larger
  effects than narrower interventions
• Individual differences in program benefits
  children with different risk factors may need
  different programs to reach similar outcomes
• Environmental maintenance positive effects will
  be lost if environmental supports are lacking

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• Contemporary Issues
• Timing and content variations
• Differential risk and differential response to
  treatment
• Lasting effects (or lack of) and mediating
  variables
• Cultural congruence
• Relation between developmental science and public
  policy

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Ramey Ramey (2004)

• Important program characteristics
• Having a well-specified program
• Programs that are at least a half day
• Starting early in childs life, strong
  communication between children and adults
• Focus on cognitive, language, and social
  development

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• Developmental priming mechanisms
• Encouragement of exploration
• Mentoring in basic skills
• Celebration of developmental advances
• Guided rehearsal and extension of new skills
• Protection from inappropriate disapproval,
  teasing or punishment
• A rich responsive language environment
• Guidance and limitation
• Lack of exposure to these mechanisms negatively
  affects brain development and maturation within
  cognitive, language and social domains

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Early Intervention Randomized Control Trials

• The Abecedarian Project Project CARE
• Children 6 weeks to 3 years, biologically healthy
  children from poor, uneducated families
• Parent involvement
• Control Groups (follow-up group)
• Treatment group who received early childhood
  education program called Partners for Learning
• Focus on adult-child interactions in 31 child
  development areas
• IHDP Infant Health and Development Program
• Modified program for low birth weight infants

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• Similar positive effects in IHDP site
• 17/18 comparisons at 36 months across all three
  projects support the hypothesis that intensive
  early intervention is associated with higher
  cognitive performance compared to controls
• Greatest effects for those at most risk, from
  less educated mothers.
• Abecedarian Project and Project CARE continued
  till children entered kindergarten, and the
  positive effects persisted.

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• Follow-Up
• IHDP effect on cognitive abilities washed out, by
  5-8 years no long statistical differences in IQ.
• Abecedarian sample was followed up at 8, 12, 15,
  and 21 years.
• Still had significant effects on IQ
• Strongest effects on reading and math.

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