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Early-Childhood Intervention may Improve Well-Being through Young Adulthood |
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From University of Minnesota: Minority preschoolers from low-income families who participated in a comprehensive school-based intervention appear to fare better educationally, criminally and economically into young adulthood, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "Early childhood interventions have demonstrated consistent positive effects on children's health and well-being," the authors write as background information in the article. The types of programs that have received the largest growth in public funding are preschool programs for mostly at-risk 3- and 4-year-olds that provide both educational and family services in a center-based environment. One such intervention, the Child-Parent Center program in Chicago, is available from preschool through third grade and features instruction by qualified teachers, low child-to-staff ratios, health and nutrition services and an intensive parent program that includes classroom involvement, field trips and home visits. More likely to have finished high school (71.4 percent vs. 63.7 percent) and to be attending four-year colleges (14.7 percent vs. 10 percent) The fact that positive results of the program extend beyond educational achievements is not surprising given the links between education, mental and physical health and behavior, the authors note. "Because expenditures for the medical care and justice systems comprise roughly 20 percent of the gross domestic product, the potential cost savings to governments and taxpayers of early childhood prevention programs are considerable," they write.
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