The effect of system intervention on the cognitive control of preschool children.
In response to the high rate of learning problems among socially deprived children, the Baltimore Early School Admission Project set up a system intervention model engaging three points of entry: parents, educators, and mental health workers. The emphasis was on: a) the redefinition of the roles of all participants; b) the school as a self-reliant system, discouraging referrals to outside agencies; c) the development of the children's functioning and adaptive potentials, based on their individual cognitive styles. The program included five public schools. Ninety-one children between the ages of 4 and 5 years were involved. All of these were selected from a hard core socioeconomically deprived population. Eighty-three percent were black and 17 per cent white. Fifteen children were identified as "vulnerable" according to specific criteria provided to the teachers and the parents. Of the vulnerable group, nine children's learning problems were related primarily to emotional and environmental factors, five had perceptual, sensory-motor dysfunction mixed with emotional factors, and one suffered primarily from brain damage. Results indicated that only one of the vulnerable children required referral outside of that provided in the above design. Eleven vulnerable children performed as well as the nonvulnerable group, and three showed a moderate improvement. Furthermore, five children with serious learning problems responded to the systemic intervention as well as they might have with specialized professional help.
D002675:Child, Preschool; D003467:Cultural Deprivation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008297:Male; D008396:Maryland; D009042:Motivation; D009048:Motor Skills; D002666:Psychology, Child; D011588:Psychology, Educational; D012574:Schools; D012923:Social Class