Infants in a public school system: the indicators of early health and educational need

Extract: The Brookline Early Education Project (BEEP) is a demonstration model in which a public school system in collaboration with a pediatric center has extended teaching and diagnostic services to the earliest days of life. In most cases, enrollment and data collection began three months before the children were born. A comprehensive diagnostic component including health, neurologic, sensory, developmental, and psychological assessments were performed periodically. The present study, the first of several reports, is an analysis of positive indicators of health and developmental need during the first six months of life. The BEEP program has relevance for pediatric practice in demonstrating a component of health care with greater diagnostic and therapeutic responsibility for educational competence in young children.