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.
What they found: Mean IQ scores of the children had been similar before the project. But afterwards the children in the group receiving regular visits scored significantly higher than the control group.
The mothers receiving the visits reported having better understanding of the importance of playing with their children, and a preference for using positive rather than negative motivation in disciplining. Researchers found children showed increased self-confidence, and mothers’ lifestyles in the visited group had improved.
Grantham-McGregor went on to test this model in other countries. By 2016 she had published 13 studies of mothers taking part in the intervention in Bangladesh, Columbia, Peru and Jamaica. All of these resulted in some benefit to children’s cognitive and language development. Grantham-McGregor is now emeritus professor of child health and nutrition at University College London Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health. The Jamaica Home Visit Intervention is now known as the Reach Up programme, which is currently implemented in 14 countries.
What does this mean for me? The multiple studies across different contexts leave no doubt as to the importance of providing stimulating environments for children. This will help their cognitive development, which will benefit them before they begin school. It also reminds us that playing with and talking to children can be done by anyone with any level of education, and resources can be simple.
- The 1975 research paper: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1183739
- 2016 review of studies: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1188432
- Reach Up: https://reachupandlearn.com
