Milwaukee Project

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The Milwaukee Project was a programme designed to improve the IQ-Test scores and scholastic achievement of children at at risk and to study the effects of intellectual stimulation on children from deprived environments. It was started in the 1960s.

Contents 1 Children from deprived environments 2 The project 3 Results 4 References

[edit] Children from deprived environments

Rick Heber of the University of Wisconsin examined the statistics of different districts within the city of Milwaukee. His attention was drewn towards one district. The residents of this district had the lowest median income and lowest level of education to be found in the city. The unemployment rate was very high. Although this district contained only 3 percent of the city’s population, 33% of all kids, who had been labeled "mentally retarded" lived there.

[edit] The project

Herber selected 40 newborn children from this district. All of them had mother with an IQ lower than 80. In many cases the father was absent. The newborns were randomly assigned to the experimental and the control group. Mothers of the experimental group children received education, vocational rehabilitation, and training in homemaking and child care. The children were brought to infant stimulation centres', were they received a high quality educational programme designed to develop language and cognitive skills. They also received three balanced meals a day. They stayed there five days a week, seven hours a day. When the children were six the programme ended. The children now attended local schools Both the experimental group and the control group were tested an equal number of times throughout the project.

[edit] Results

By age six all of the children from the experimental group had higher IQs than all of the children from the control group. Mean IQ was 120 in the experimental group and 87 in the controll group. After the children left the programme the children's IQs started declining. By the time both groups were ten years old the IQs of the children of the experimental group had decreased to 105. Mean IQ in the control group was 85.

[edit] References

• Garbner, Howard L. (1988): Milwaukee Project: Preventing Mental Retardation in Children at Risk
• IQ Scores: IQ Score Interpretation