What methodologies within the behavioral sciences have clinical application for the diagnosis and management of high risk and handicapped infants? Originally published in 1979, this volume not only deals with this issue, but illustrates the contributions that behavioral science may have offered those called upon to evaluate the cognitive consequences of perinatal high risk factors at the time. The inadequacies of some measures used to assess intellectual competence in retardates are juxtaposed with the sophisticated methodologies that may be employed to document early mental abilities. Also included are assessment procedures that bypass reliance on neuromotor performance, imitation, or language production. The authors draw attention to the discontinuous nature of cognitive development, to the possibility that mental and motor development may proceed independently, and to the plasticity of the developing CNS, which may overcome early deficits if underlying competences are recognized and exposed to appropriate stimulation. Here is a volume that does not simply catalog the nature of the child’s accomplishments and deficits, but emphasizes the need to examine his potential for learning, and offers various methodologies that may be of value in documenting the child’s continuing cognitive development.

This book is a re-issue originally published in 1979. The language used is a reflection of its era and no offence is meant by the Publishers to any reader by this re-publication.