The Pediatrician's Orientation to Infant Stimulation Programs

Abstract

A statement for pediatricians concerning the very popular and widely touted infant stimulation programs is past due in view of the rapid development of these services in the past decade. At present most communities have infants and young children involved in early education programs. As long ago as 1974, interest in these early educational interventions led to a national conference sponsored by the President's Committee on Mental Retardation and the Association for Childhood Education International.1 It was apparent at the time of the national conference that most of the programs functioned outside of health delivery systems. The literature dealing with delivery models and research on their effects are in nonpediatric literature. Therefore, pediatricians are generally unfamiliar with the several types of programs that have evolved and their advantages and disadvantages. In this issue Denhoff,2 on behalf of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Children with Handicaps, reviews the state of the art in infant stimulation programs, especially those for biologically impaired infants and/or those considered at high risk. It is important to realize that there are two different types of children involved, and that each group's needs are quite different. The first type are children in whom environmental factors are the major events leading to concern for mental development. This so-called cultural-socially deprived group is felt by many to constitute the majority of the borderline and mildly retarded children. They are by far the largest group of handicapped in our school systems. The second type are the biologically impaired, ie, children with brain damage, sensory deficits, or physical impairments; they are a very heterogeneous group.