title: The effect of the Infant Health and Development Program on special education use at school age.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the effect of an intensive early intervention on special service use at school-age.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Infant Health and Development Program was a randomized controlled trial of an intervention for low birth weight (<2500 g) infants ages 0-3 years. We used multivariate logistic regression to test the association between intervention and risk of special education, remedial reading and math, and speech therapy at age 8 years. We also compared rates of service use between study arms among those with learning disabilities (LDs).
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 875 complete cases at 8-year follow-up. There were no statistically significant differences between groups in risk of special education (risk ratio [RR] 0.86, 95% CI 0.64-1.15), remedial reading (RR 0.88, 95% CI 0.68-1.14), remedial math (RR 0.92, 95% CI 0.63-1.34), or speech therapy (RR 0.87, 95% CI 0.62-1.23). The treatment arms did not differ in rates of LDs, and service use for those with LDs was low and unaffected by study group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Early gains in IQ from infant interventions may not protect children as they face the educational demands of grade school. Only a fraction of those having a LD were receiving school-based support services, indicating a high level of unmet need among low birth weight children with disabilities.
authors.affiliation: Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA. Electronic address: jonathan.litt@bidmc.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Jonathan S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Litt
authors.affiliation: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA; University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Glymour
authors.affiliation: Boston College, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: Penny
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hauser-Cram
authors.affiliation: Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hehir
authors.affiliation: Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: Marie C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: McCormick
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018479:Early Intervention, Educational; D004519:Education, Special / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male