Language Development and Cultural Disadvantagement

Abstract

In a 3 year study directed at the prevention of learning problems in school, the failure to achieve, and the subsequent school dropout, a daily program of language and sensory-perceptual instruction was provided to children enrolled in 2 community day care centers. The program was designed to counteract the inhibiting effects of cultural deprivation on language and perceptual learning during the important formative preschool years, and thus it placed emphasis on beginning education with the nursery age child. Preliminary results from the first 2 years demonstrated significant gains in intellectual, linguistic, and perceptual functioning in comparison to control groups which did not undergo the same instruction but which were receiving many elements of the traditional kindergarten type program.