Research
Abecedarian Research
Ten scientific studies on the Abecedarian Approach are listed in this table. The first three Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) demonstrated the long-lasting benefits of the Abecedarian Approach delivered through high quality group child care. Children in the first two of those studies were at risk from multiple social conditions such as poverty, young maternal age, or low parental education. Other children in two orphanage studies were at risk due to parental abandonment.
But, importantly, children in some of the studies came from a wide range of social classes. Many of these children had no additional risk other than being born at low birth weight or with cerebral palsy.
The educational program or intervention in all of the studies was the full Abecedarian Approach (Language Priority, Enriched Caregiving, Conversational Reading, and LearningGames) except the Cerebral Palsy study which used only the LearningGames element of the Abecedarian Approach. Two of the recent studies focused on Indigenous children and families in Canada and Australia. The study in Australia, which will be submitted for publication in 2019, was a cohort study rather than an RCT, since we choose to intervene with every child in two remote villages.
Abecedarian 10 is a particularly interesting study since it was conducted in three middle- and low-income countries and showed that home visits every two weeks delivering the Abecedarian Approach produced complete cognitive catch-up by age 36 months for children from low-resource families. A new RCT study (not yet in the displayed table) has received funding and will begin in 2019 in Denmark.
Craig Ramey was the Principal Investigator on the original Abecedarian longitudinal studies. Frances Campbell was the Principal Investigator on most of the adult follow-up studies.
Selected Articles in Peer-reviewed Journals
2018 Abecedarian adult results on social behaviors, Nature Communications
2016 Age 3 cognitive results for an international 2A home visit program, Pediatrics
Note: This article uses the generic term EDI (Early Developmental Intervention) for 2A. It also references Partners for Learning (now out of print) which was a revised publication of 2A.
2016 Experimental use of Abecedarian in an Indigenous classroom, AJEC
2014 Long term Abecedarian health effects, Science
2011 Brief description of Abecedarian, Every Child
2007 Depressive symptoms in adulthood, Child Development
2006 Age 18 results low birthweight study, Pediatrics
2005 Orphanage study in Romania, Infant Mental Health
2002 Age 21 Abecedarian outcomes, Applied Developmental Science
1997 Mediating processes in cognitive development, Child Development
1991 LBW study of Partners for Learning, TECSE
Note: Partners for Learning (now out of print) was a revised publication of 2A
1988 PT vs LearningGames for Cerebral Palsy, NE Journal of Medicine
1987 Abecedarian vs other day care, Child Development
1986 Effect of day care on teen mothers, Family Relations