In a widely cited follow-up study of disadvantaged preschool attendees, Schweinhart, Weikart, and Larner (1986a) found that graduates of an early childhood program using direct instruction (DI) methods exhibited higher rates of juvenile delinquency at age 15 than did graduates of two other preschool education models. The present research examined juvenile delinquency outcomes for young children with disabilities in a prospective longitudinal study that tracked the long-term impact of two preschool models—one using DI, the other using a cognitively oriented, child-directed model. We followed 171 children who had been randomly assigned to the two early childhood models. At age 15, the groups did not differ significantly in their level of reported delinquency. Analyses suggest that gender differences in delinquent behavior may provide a more parsimonious explanation than program effects for the earlier Schweinhart et al. findings.
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