But starting at six weeks of age, one group also received five years of educational support.
Those that received educational programming, ended up showing structural differences in the brain when followed through middle age.
How Did the Program Work?
Weekend Images Inc. / Getty Images
Children participated in a comprehensive program that focused on promoting language, cognition, and interactive learning.
Positive encouragement was also an important aspect of the experience.
It lasted six to eight hours per day, five days a week, for 50 weeks.
Participants were then given intelligent quotient (IQ) and different academic tests through their adolescent years.
When they were between 38 and 44 years old, 78 participants participated in a follow-up.
About half of them completed brain scans.
They were also more likely to have steady employment and less likely to require public assistance.
“Also challenging them cognitively and using positive reinforcement.”
