Contrasting Mother-Infant Contact: Educational Consequences a Decade Later.

Effects of maternal-neonatal extended contact or separation were examined in 76 children (8 to 10 years old), five of whom were receiving special education services, and 28 who had been retained in their grade. Of the five Ss requiring special services, three were classified as slow learners and two as speech impaired, two conditions linked by previous research to deprived maternal-neonatal contact. Deprived contact was also a prediction of grade retention. In total, 50% of Ss born at a hospital enforcing mother-baby separation totaling several days required specific educational intervention. Incidence was even higher (65%) for males born at that hospital. (CL)