The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a diagnostically based curriculum for disadvantaged preschool children. For each of 3 years, 45 lower class Appalachian white 5-year-olds were equally divided into three groups. The experimental preschool group (EPS) received a structural curriculum designed to remedy specific, diagnosed…

A scale to identify important behaviors in preschool children was developed, and ratings were related to more traditional indices of development and academic readiness. Teacher interviews were used to identify 62 specific behaviors related to maximally adapted and maximally maladapted kindergarten children. These were incorporated into a…

A PILOT EXPERIMENT CONDUCTED TO TEST THE EFFECT OF A SPECIALLY DEVISED PHONIC APPROACH TO EARLY READING IS DESCRIBED. THE PHONIC METHOD USED ACHIEVED SOUND-SYMBOL REGULARITY AND HAD THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERISTICS--(1) CONSONANT GRAPHEMES EACH REPRESENTED ONLY ONE SOUND AND WERE PRINTED USING NEARLY STANDARD ALPHABETIC SYMBOLS. (2) EACH VOWEL…

First grade children from two Head Start (HS) groups and one non-Head Start (NHS) group were administered a battery of tests for the purposes of (1) comparing the developmental status of HS and NHS subjects, (2) examing patterns of specific learning disabilities among HS and NHS children, (3) determining the stability coefficients of selected…

In an effort to isolate the emergence and causes of social class differences in intellectual performance, this longitudinal study was undertaken as a follow-up on a cross-sectional study that yielded no social class differences on the Cattell Infant Intelligence Scale for 12-, 18-, and 24-month-old black children. In the present study, 89 children…

Assessments of the home environments of 116 families whose twins were participants in a longitudinal study of early mental development were conducted. Predictions of offspring intelligence scores increased from ages six months to six years old. Although home/family variables were related to mental development, so were parental education and SES.…

A project was undertaken in 1965 in 3 elementary schools in Wayne County School District, Utah, to determine if students entering small, rural schools have cultural disadvantages and, if so, to develop materials and procedures to meet such deficiencies. Pretesting revealed significant differences in vocabulary development and experiential…

This study attempted to ameliorate the educational deficits of infants using structured tutorial programs of language and concept training in the home. It was part of a larger project whose purpose was to determine the age at which intervention will produce maximum acceleration of cognitive development. Subjects were 20 disadvantaged 8- and…

THE PURPOSES OF THIS PILOT PROJECT WERE (1) TO ATTEMPT TO EVALUATE THE EFFECT OF THE LOCAL PROGRAM ON BOTH INDIVIDUAL CHILDREN AND THE GROUP AND (2) TO INVESTIGATE THE SENSITIVITY OF THE TEST INSTRUMENTS EMPLOYED IN EVALUATING SUCH A PROGRAM. SIXTY-ONE CHILDREN WERE ENROLLED IN THE LOCAL HEADSTART PROGRAM AND WERE ADMINISTERED THE STANFORD-BINET,…

A PRESCHOOL EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM WAS DEVELOPED IN WHICH THE ONLY TEACHER FOR THE CHILD IS HIS MOTHER. IT WAS HYPOTHESIZED THAT MOTHERS OF LOW SOCIOECONOMIC AND EDUCATIONAL LEVEL CAN CONTRIBUTE MATERIALLY, WITH MINIMAL BUT PROPER TRAINING, TO THE INTELLECTUAL AND LINGUISTIC DEVELOPMENT OF THEIR CHILDREN. THE TRAINING PROGRAM FOR THE MOTHERS…

Infants judged to be at risk for subnormal intellectual growth were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups which varied as to educational curriculum activities. Two types of evidence, group differences and parent-child IQ correlations, demonstrate the importance of early environments in intellectual development. (Author/RD)

Traditional measures of intelligence frequently yield low scores when applied to disadvantaged subjects. This study tests whether similar findings would result from measures of developmental behavior. Accordingly, the developmental behavior of 159 culturally disadvantaged children (85 boys, 74 girls) was assessed by systematic interviewing of…

The following research projects are described in this annual report: (1) "Concept Learning in Discrimination Tasks," which indicates that kindergarten children are able to discriminate the letters "b,""d,""p," and "q"; (2) "Discrimination of Letter-like Forms," indicating that nursery…

This summary on studies on preschool intervention through social learning indicate that a child's mode of orientation and his general level of competence and maturity are, in large part, derived from his social environment. To the extent that specific aspects of that environment can be identified as significant antecedents to behavioral…

This study was undertaken to ascertain the degree of stability of significant gains made in intellectual functioning by a group of children who attended Head Start programs and two groups of children who did not attend preschool programs. Data collected and analyzed at postkindergarten showed nonsignificant differences between performance levels…