ABSTRACT
Designed to provide opportunities and services to preschoolers from low-income, at-risk families, it focused on early education, physical and mental health services, nutrition awareness, child and family social services, and parental involvement. However, part of the problem might be the unfortunate tendency of investigators to assume that IQ scores are the primary indicator of success, or to compare Head Start children to those from more advantaged backgrounds. For a time, it can be desirable for the child to be the main focus of our attention. For infants and toddlers, these include support (e.g., high levels of affection, positive family communication, and an encouraging climate), constructive use of time (e.g., exposure to creative activities at home and elsewhere), and empowerment (e.g., valuing, protecting, and involving children; placing them at the center of family life). Sometimes parents may have a somewhat biased view of their children’s abilities, and perhaps that’s as it should be.
