The cost of neglect in the first two years

The New Republic's current issue features a story on the research that has been done on the effects of neglect on child development in the first two years based on the Bucharest Early Intervention Project.

In the field of child development, this study—now known as the Bucharest Early Intervention Project—was nearly unprecedented. Most such research is performed on animals, because it would be unethical to expose human subjects to neglect or abuse. But here the investigators were taking a group of children out of danger. The orphanages, moreover, provided a sufficiently large sample of kids, all from the same place and all raised in the same miserable conditions. The only variable would be the removal from the institutions, allowing researchers to isolate the effects of neglect on the brain.

Prior to the project, investigators had observed that the orphans had a high frequency of serious developmental problems, from diminished IQs to extreme difficulty forming emotional attachments. Meanwhile, imaging and other tests revealed that some of the orphans had reduced activity in their brains. The Bucharest project confirmed that these findings were more than random observations. It also uncovered a striking pattern: Orphans who went to foster homes before their second birthdays often recovered some of their abilities. Those who went to foster homes after that point rarely did.

For further research from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project, check out:

Cognitive Recovery in Socially Deprived Young Children: The Bucharest Early Intervention Project by Charles Nelson, et al.

Designing research to study the effects of institutionalization on brain and behavioral development: The Bucharest Early Intervention Project by Charles Zeahnah, et al.