EARLY INTERVENTION FOR LOW-BIRTH-WEIGHT, PREMATURE-INFANTS - PARTICIPATION AND INTELLECTUAL-DEVELOPMENT

The Infant Health and Development Program was an eight-site randomized controlled trial of comprehensive early intervention for low birthwei ght, premature infants during the first 3 years of life in which intel lectual development was an outcome of major importance. At 24 and 36 m onths, but not at 12 months, higher Mental Development Index and IQ we re associated with higher levels of participation in the intervention. In a longitudinal analysis of these data, we found that the intellect ual development of children in the intervention group was associated w ith each of the three intervention modalities (the number of home visi ts received, days attended at child centers, and the number of parent meetings attended) but not with children's background characteristics (i.e., maternal education, birthweight). We suggest that these finding s represent a dose-response relation between intervention and outcome.