Abecedarian Project

Synonyms

Early intervention; Prevention of mental retardation

Definition

The Abecedarian Project was an early intervention project conducted by Craig Ramey and Francis Campbell on a mostly African-American sample of children at-risk for academic failure. The children have been followed from preschool into early adulthood with positive intellectual results.

Description

Ramey and Campbell conducted a prospective longitudinal study on approximately 50 children born between 1972 and 1977 [1]. The children were considered to be at risk for intellectual delays and academic problems because they were born to mostly young single mothers living in poverty. Children were screened for inclusion based on the number of risk factors they faced, including low parental education, father absence, receiving welfare, etc. The researchers randomly assigned 50+ matched children to a no-intervention control group as well. The goal of the preventive intervention was to prevent