Early generic educational intervention has no enduring effect on intelligence and does not prevent mental retardation: The infant health and development program

Early intervention programs designed to increase intelligence and prevent m ental retardation have long been a mainstay of pedagogical ideology. The pa ramount objective is to overcome intellectual disadvantage that some childr en experience because of unlucky draw from the genetic deck, adverse enviro nmental exposure, and social misfortune. A number of "premier" projects com pleted over the past two decades have commanded wide professional and publi c attention. The most thorough and methodologically sophisticated is the In fant Health and Development Program (IHDP), a comprehensive preschool progr am to avert health and intellectual impairments sometimes associated with p remature low birthweight. Despite claims that IHDP successfully raised inte lligence and prevented mental retardation, close examination of project dat a reveal that these assertions are without foundation. IHDP failed to produ ce any enduring and meaningful effect on cognitive development. Among other s, two primary reasons for this unsuccessful outcome are failures to consid er genetic influences and to individualize intervention in terms of etiolog ical specificity at biological and psychological levels. Prevention of prem ature low birthweight is more biologically plausible, more effective, and m ore cost-efficient. These issues are discussed in the context of boarder is sues concerning the nature of intelligence and its mutability. It is now ti me to design specific interventions that are commensurate with individual d ifferences and the distinctive complexity of myriad problems that give rise to intellectual disadvantage.