STABILITY AND CHANGE OVER TIME IN COGNITIVE LEVEL OF CHILDREN WITH DELAYS

Cognitive and family data on 82 children with developmental delays wer e collected in an 8-year longitudinal study. Child measures included t he Gesell and the UCLA Temperament Scale administered at child age 3 a nd the Stanford Binet, administered at child ages 6 and 11. Family mea sures included SES, level of maternal education, and factor scores ref lecting family accommodation or adaptation at the three time points. A lthough cognitive scores for the group were stable, use of a random co efficient regression technique documented differences in the decline o f cognitive scores over time. Examination of change scores identified increasing, stable, and decreasing patterns of change. There were sign ificant correlations between change in IQ, entering DQ, and Easy and D ifficult temperaments.