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Although it is widely accepted that early childhood is the optimal, time to begin educational intervention, there does not seem to be an agreement on the specific kinds of interventions. For the disadvantaged child, however, it seems that intervention in infancy and very early childhood is especially indicated. This summary and literature review notes the problems concerned with the long-range goals of early childhood education, the stability of early learning, and the problems of timing the educational interventions. (NH)

In this chapter, the authors look to the end product of the educative process, the adolescent and the mature adult, in order adequately to formulate the goals of education; these distant goals must be kept in mind as the authors devise aims and methods for the pre-school years. The national preoccupation with early childhood education is thrusting developmental psychologists and educators into a realm where few have dared to tread the sanctity of early childhood. Most early theorists who considered the problem of cognitive development during childhood concluded that learning tend to follow relatively predictable patterns, and that the rate of development is determined by the more or less permanent intellectual level of the child. The time of earliest learning is thought, conjecturally at least, to occur in the prenatal period. Neonates have been demonstrated to exhibit considerable learning potential. The authors explore little about the long-term stability of early education programs.

Material presented resulted from visits by the authors to a number of countries as members of the International Study Group for Early Child Care, a group of 24 participants from eleven nations. (MB)

For children who exhibit extreme academic promise, one response is to provide radical early acceleration into college. As with all other solutions, however, this one represents a series of compromises.

The consistency of kindergarten and first grade teachers’ attitudes toward academically talented early entrants, relative to other types of students, was assessed in a survey conducted in a suburban school district. Teachers were asked to rank hypothetical candidates for their classrooms and to indicate the kinds of information about nonintellectual qualities that would be most helpful in evaluating each potential candidate. Kindergarten teachers consistently assigned lower ranks to early entrants than to other types of students; the rankings of first grade teachers were less consistent. Teachers who had taught early entrants did not assign higher ranks to these children than did teachers who lacked this experience. Information about a child's social maturity level was chosen as most helpful for evaluation of all types of children at both grade levels. Teachers suggested a variety of techniques for working with intellectually advanced students, but few made positive comments about the practice of early entrance. Procedures that might reduce teachers’ concerns about the social competence of early entrants are discussed.

In a series of investigations of developmental aspects of the sizeweight illusion, almost all 144 Ss, 2 to 10 years, manifested the illusion after being trained to choose the heavier of two cylinders. Frequency of the illusion was unrelated to age, but its magnitude was greater in younger Ss. For 2-year-old Ss trained in finer weight discriminations, magnitude diminished in proportion to skill. The training procedures probably accounted for discrepancies with findings by previous investigators that the illusion increased with age. Present findings are consistent with Piaget's general theory of cognitive development, but not his specific notions concerning the illusion.

A comprehensive follow-up of survivors of matched groups of low- and mature-birth-weight infants born in Wake County, North Carolina, was carried out when the children were approximately 8 to 10 years old. The sample included 92 who had weighed more than 2,500 gm at birth, 102 with birth weights of 1.501-2,500 gm, and 33 who had weighed 1,500 gm or less. Covariance techniques were utilized to hold background factors constant in some of the analyses. A higher proportion of the tiniest infants had sustained major physical defects (24% vs. 2-3% in other groups). This group was significantly smaller in weight and head size, and tended to come from more disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds. Extensive comparisons of data from physical and psychological examinations, social histories, and school reports tended to find only a few significant differences among the groups, all of which were probably related more closely to social background than to birth weight per se. The data indicate that, aside from physical size and major physical defects, social class assumes much more importance than does birth weight in determining a child's developmental prognosis.

PRESENTING A PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MENTAL RETARDATION, THIS TEXT BEGINS WITH A DISCUSSION OF THEORIES OF INTELLIGENCE, PROBLEMS OF DEFINITION, AND THE CURRENT STATUS OF THE FIELD OF MENTAL RETARDATION. A SECTION ON ETIOLOGY AND SYNDROMES PRESENTS INFORMATION ON GENETIC FACTORS AND GENETIC SYNDROMES AND THE PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENTS AS FACTORS IN MENTAL RETARDATION. CULTURAL-FAMILIAL FACTORS, EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE, AND BRAIN INJURY ARE DISCUSSED AS THREE UNDERLYING CONSTELLATIONS OF CAUSES OF MENTAL RETARDATION. THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO MENTAL RETARDATION--PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORIES, GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY, THE PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY OF D. O. HEBB, LEARNING THEORIES, AND JEAN PIAGET'S THEORY OF INTELLIGENCE ARE PRESENTED. THE DISCUSSION OF PSYCHODIAGNOSIS INCLUDES THEORY AND PRACTICE, MENTAL AGE AND INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT, AND STANDARDIZED PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS. SPECIAL EDUCATION, PSYCHOTHERAPY, PROBLEMS OF THE FAMILY OF A RETARDED CHILD, PLACEMENT DECISIONS, AND THE SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT OF RETARDED ADULTS ARE INCLUDED. REFERENCE LIST CITES 1690 ITEMS. THIS DOCUMENT IS PUBLISHED BY MCGRAW-HILL BOOK COMPANY, NEW YORK, NEW YORK, $10.50. (MY)