Responses to a Learning Task at 6 Months and I.Q. Test Performance During the Preschool Years

This research focused on 45 6-month-olds who were at risk for developmental delay due to poor socioeconomic circumstances, their responses to a learning task, and the subsequent prediction to performance on standardised tests during the preschool years. A rank classification for qualitative differences in learning proved preferable to a more complex behavioural count system. Task Rank was used to predict subsequent test performance on the Stanford Binet at 24, 36, and 48 months. Half the infants had been randomly assigned at birth to a day care intervention programme. Both Task Rank and the Bayley MDI at 6 months were good predictors of later test scores for the control group but not the day care intervention group. Responses to the learning task added significantly to the predictions obtained from the Bayley. These results suggest that tasks measured in infancy involving information processing in a novel situation are related to later functioning on standard assessment tests for children reared in less than optimal circumstances.