In 1975, Sally Grantham-McGregor, then a medic working at the University of West Indies, published a study which has been used as the basis for a national policy in Peru and in ten other countries.
What they did: Noting that children in Jamaica from poor social backgrounds tended to perform worse at school and experience developmental delays, Grantham-McGregor set up a trial to compare a group of three-year-old boys and girls (11 of each) from families with low education levels with a similar control group in Kingston.
Mothers in the first group received one-hour visits once a week by a state-registered nurse over eight months. They showed mothers how to teach their children by playing and talking to them. The aim was to increase verbal interactions and develop the child’s self-confidence and imagination. Books and toys used during the sessions were left at the homes and exchanged for new ones. The nurses only visited the control group three times.
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