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Early Head Start 5th Grade Follow-Up
Core Function: Research and Evaluation
Retired CIMHD Director Kathryn Barnard and current Director Susan Spieker were principal investigators of one of 17 national sites participating in a randomized trial examining the effectiveness of Early Head Start programs to promote child, family, staff, and community development. The families served by Early Head Start are all low income. Low income families may experience stresses that contribute to children’s serious developmental, emotional, and learning problems.
The focus of both the local and national components of this research converges on understanding factors and processes contributing to a child’s readiness for school. Approximately 15-20% of the children were identified as having cognitive or social-emotional disabilities specifically related to emotion regulation, speech and language, developmental delay, or externalizing problem behavior by age three.
Our local focus has specifically been on the interpersonal and social contexts in which children in poverty develop, and the individual and emotional characteristics of their mothers that affect how receptive a family is to intervention efforts. We also look at how effective that intervention ultimately can be in promoting social emotional well-being and readiness for school. Currently, the researchers are conducting a follow-up of the study children at the end of fifth grade. We will participate in this follow-up on the 116 families we have followed in the past.
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