 |
 |
|
|
That was the headline in The Washington Post last month when the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHHD) released a long-term study of the effects of day care on children's cognitive development.
Psychiatrist Stanley Greenspan, M.D., however, is not reassured.
The NICHHD study, assessing 1,364 socially and racially diverse children at 10 sites, found that the amount of child care was not related to the children's cognitive and language development.
At the same time, however, the study found that the quality of interactions with small children in day care is important. More positive caregiving--especially language stimulation--was related to better performance by children on cognitive and language tests when they were 15, 24, and 36 months of age.
In addition, the study found that more positive caregiving in child care settings was related to more positive involvement of mothers at 15 months and more sensitivity of mothers at 36 months with their children.
Greenspan, the author of The Growth of the Mind and the Endangered Origins of Intelligence, is skeptical of the optimistic spin put on the findings.
"The study finds that the quality of interaction, such as playing with or talking to children, is associated with better language and thinking skills, independent of the location where that takes place," he said in an interview with Psychiatric News. "No one would argue with this grandmotherly wisdom. However, the study did not establish a standard of good care and report how often this standard was met in different settings. Instead of being reassured, one must ask: Are the majority of children growing up with relatively impersonal care?
"The study also glosses over another of its own critical findings," Greenspan said."In an earlier phase of the study, when the children were 15 months old, it found that 'day care alone' did not derail attachments between parents and children. The key phrase here is 'day care alone.' The study actually showed that when infants were in day care for many hours a day, the parent-child relationship showed signs of stress unless the parent was quite gifted at interacting with and reading the child's emotional cues in the evening."
Greenspan acknowledges that there are excellent day care centers providing outstanding care for infants, but he believes that most centers are in need of improvement. He cited one study by the University of Colorado that found that 80 percent of day care centers were deficient in providing important child-caregiver interactions.
"To improve day care, are we prepared to change center-based day care so that the same caregiver stays with the child for many years?" he asked. "Are we prepared to decrease the number of children cared for by each caregiver to increase the time for long interactions that promote language, thinking, and self-esteem? Are we prepared to increase wages and training of day care staff to enhance their skills and self-satisfaction? Should parents who have the option consider working part time?
"Society would have to make a stronger commitment to children to make changes in employment practices that would allow such novel solutions to become practical," he said.
(Psychiatric News, June 6, 1997)