PEDIATRICS Vol. 30 No. 6 December 1962, pp. 1007-1008
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Home Care of Mongoloid Children

LEONARD HERSHER Ph.D.1

1 Department of Pediatrics, State University of New York, Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse, New York

A recent article in Pediatrics by Birch and Belmont has challenged the methodology, results and conclusions of an earlier article, by Centerwall and Centerwall, on home versus foster-home rearing of mongoloid infants.

The Centerwalls studied 64 mongoloid children one-half of whom had been placed in foster homes in the neonatal period, the other half having been reared in their own homes until at least 2frac12 years of age. All children were eventually institutionalized. At the time of admission to the institution, and approximately 4 years later, the home-reared group were found to be superior to the foster-placement group in intelligence, motor function, and social responsiveness. The investigators concluded that "the average baby with mongolism has a better chance of being a happy, easily cared for, somewhat productive person, if a reasonable adjustment can be made to having him remain in his own home during the first years of life (p. 685).