Day Care and Home Intervention Studies

This is a review of two series of studies comparing the short‐term and long‐term effects on development of early enrichment in day care and the home during infancy, using socially and cognitvely interactive modes of play strongly focused on language. The research embraces children from a wide spectrum of educational, ethnic and racial backgrounds. Children from all backgrounds in both day care and the home advanced to high levels in language and cognitive functioning, significantly over controls and well above norms during infancy, although more in the home studies than in day care and more in day care of high quality than in day care of average quality. Children who experienced some added form of cognitive enrichment generally advanced relatively more in general cognitive processes (IQ) than in language, while those focused on cognitively and socially oriented language alone advanced relatively more on language than IQ. Both program groups from all backgrounds advanced to high levels, however. During later development, the developmental advantages of children in the home intervention studies gradually widened over the development of children in the day care studies, even over those who had attended high quality day care. The central responsibility of home‐rearing parents for their child's total care, enhanced by the early training in teaching roles, may have contributed to this expanding advantage. Children from higher educational backgrounds and girls generally advanced more than those children from lower educational backgrounds and boys in the home studies. About 70% of children from college‐educated backgrounds became variously gifted, compared to about 30% of those from less‐educated backgrounds, both groups displaying a wide range of high intellectual and social competencies. There were almost no differences between early and later borns and early versus later program starting children, and among children of different ethnic/racial backgrounds (the latter confounded with educational background). It is concluded that early enrichment can advance the development of children from all backgrounds to realize biological potentials well beyond norms commonly found from culturally typical modes of socialization, and that language and motivation play special roles in advancing development.