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The Abecedarian Approach to Social, Educational, and Health Disparities

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Abstract

This paper places the Abecedarian Approach in theoretical and historical context and reviews the results from three randomized controlled trials that have tested an experimental protocol designed to prevent cognitive disabilities and their social consequences. Results affirm that cognitive disabilities can be prevented in early childhood and subsequent academic achievement enhanced via a multipronged comprehensive approach that contains individualized and responsive early childhood education starting in early infancy, coupled with pediatric health care, good nutrition, and family-oriented social services. Additional important findings reveal that the most vulnerable children benefited the most and that cognitive gains were not at the expense of children’s socioemotional development or relationship to family. In general, mothers derived benefits in education and employment and teenage mothers especially benefited from their children participating in the early education treatment group. On the whole, the overall pattern of results supports a multidisciplinary, individualized, and long-term longitudinal perspective on human development and prevention science. Recent structural and functional brain imaging in the fifth decade of life shows persistent effects of intensive early educational treatment. Independent recent cost–benefit analysis in adulthood reveals a 7.3:1 return on investment with a 13.7% average annual rate of return. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications of the Abecedarian Approach to today’s high-risk population in the USA

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Fig. 1

Reproduced with permission from Ramey and Ramey (1998a, b)

Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Source Martin et al. (1990)

Fig. 4

Source Ramey et al. (2000)

Fig. 5

Reproduced with permission from Ramey et al. (2012)

Fig. 6

Source Ramey et al. (1992)

Fig. 7

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Change history

  • 04 June 2018

    In the section “Ages 39–45 Outcomes,” an error was made by providing details from my ongoing collaborative research with colleagues on neuroanatomical effects (Farah et al 2017) and social decision-making (Luo et al 2017).

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Funding

This program of research has been supported by grants from: The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, The US Department of Education, The Administration on Children, Youth, and Families, The Maternal and Child Health Bureau, The National Institute of Mental Health, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

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  1. Distinguished Research Scholar, Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, Professor of Psychology, Neuroscience, Human Development, and Pediatrics, Virginia Tech, VTCRI, 2 Riverside Circle, Roanoke, VA, 24016, USA

    Craig T. Ramey

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Correspondence to Craig T. Ramey.

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All procedures performed in this program of research involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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abe·ce·dar·i·an \,ā-bē-(,)sē-ˈder-ē-ən\ n [ME abecedary, fr. ML abecedarium alphabet, fr. LL, neut. of abecedarius of the alphabet, fr. The letters a + b + c + d]: one learning the rudiments of something (as the alphabet). The idea behind the name was to provide a broad knowledge base to prepare children for success in school.

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Ramey, C.T. The Abecedarian Approach to Social, Educational, and Health Disparities. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev 21, 527–544 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-018-0260-y

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