Journal of Early Intervention

Molecular behaviors of auditory perception, crying activity, and visual attention among infants during the first few months reflect individual differences and suggest relationships with later measures of cognitive competence. The matrix of pre- and perinatal biological and sociocultural correlates are reviewed in relation to infants who ore subsequently identified as gifted.

In an attempt to reverse the prognosis for premature, low birthweight infants born to low SES mothers, the Infant Stimulation/Mother Training (IS/MT) Project designed a comprehensive educational program to complement the extensive medical services already in place. Beginning at birth in a special care nursery and continuing throughout the infant's first 12 months of life, 86 low birthweight infants delivered at Cincinnati General Hospital (CGH) and their families were eligible for all or part of the service program. This article presents an overview of (a) description of population served, (b) variety of treatment events offered, and (c) evaluation of changes documented. Because of the many service options that were available for parents and infants, single treatment effects were difficult to evaluate. This then is a descriptive study that illuminates the conditions surrounding high-risk status, the variety of treatment events employed, and the changes in physical and social support systems that were introduced. It is intended to provide direction to those who may follow in designing similar intervention efforts.

The authors describe a professional training program in the field of Early Intervention for Master's level students, at Wheelock College, Boston, MA. Specific roles and competencies are discussed in the context of the rationale for their selection as a focus for training in Early Intervention. An overview of core-curriculum is provided along with a discussion of some critical training and direct service delivery issues.

Fourteen handicapped infants and their caregivers were pretested using an observational schedule designed to assess caregiver-infant interaction. Observers coded the frequency and duration of initiating and responding behaviors of both the caregiver and the infant, and also rated those behaviors as either positive or negative. Observers also coded those caregiver behaviors that were "controlling." The infant-caregiver pairs were stratified by infant age (0-12 months and 13-18 months) and randomly assigned to either a treatment group or a control group. The treatment group received a home-based intervention program designed to improve the quality of interaction between the infant and the caregiver. The control group received no intervention. After the intervention phase, the two groups were post-tested using the same observational schedule. Data from the pretests and post-tests were compared using analysis of variance to determine the effectiveness of the intervention program. This comparison revealed that the frequency and duration of positive caregiver behaviors significantly increased as a result of treatment. Duration of controlling caregiver behaviors significantly decreased as a result of treatment.

While most early intervention programs for handicapped children that involve parents focus on the needs of the handicapped child's mother, the research indicates that fathers play an important role in their child's development and often need help learning how to adapt to the birth of a handicapped child and to foster the child's development. Our increasing understanding of the paternal role and the special needs of fathers enables us to suggest activities for programs to offer for fathers of handicapped young children.

This article reviews children's intellectual response to four major programs concerned with the prevention of developmental retardation that have used experimentally adequate research designs. Results indicate that it is feasible to prevent retardation in high-risk samples using a variety of educational formats and that intellectual response to treatment is positively related to the intensity of the program.

The relevance of the new National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities definition of learning disabilities (LD) is discussed in relation to the infant population (birth to age 3). The new LD definition assumes that difficulty in acquisition and use of knowledge is intrinsic to the individual and presumed to be due to central nervous system dysfunction. The interactive nature of early development is discussed in relation to the intrinsic aspect of the LD definition. A normal development program model is recommended for suspect LD infants.

The amazing match between the characteristics of the language that mothers use with their babies and the babies' developmental and leaming needs is highly dependent on the cues that the baby provides and the reciprocal roles that are made possible by these cues. A further factor that influences the characteristics of maternal language is the mother's intent in particular types of situations. Different characteristics of maternal language have been related to the rate of language acquisition in babies. Handicapped babies may differ from nonhandicapped in ways that influence the language the babies hear, with important consequences for development. The present study examined maternal language to handicapped babies in two situations-play and teaching—in relation to directiveness and to how related the mothers' language was to the baby's current focus of attention. Results indicated that the mothers' language was highly related to the babies' focus of attention in both situations. However, it was proportionately less related to the preceding vocalization than to the activity. In both situations, the use of commands was higher than has been found with nonhandicapped babies, and was even greater in the teaching situation. Implications of these results for development and for intervention are discussed.