This report is a mid-latency follow-up of children previously studied during nursery school. The study shows that there is a need to question many of our assumptions about the development of children from birth to latency. The existence of an infantile neurosis is confirmed. The peak proportion of children judged as showing interference with their developmental progression was at age 6. By the age of 8 1/2, many of these children had begun to progress again in their development. Changes in the groupings of the children from year to year seemed to be more characteristic than stability of groupings. Between 4 and 6 years of age the change was toward more pathology and/or interference with development. Between 6 and 8 1/2 the change was in a positive direction, toward health. Findings suggest that early latency appears to be a period of expansion for girls more often than it does boys. Interference with developmental progression occurred earlier in girls. Practically all of the children in this study showed various degrees of pathology at different times during the 5 years of the project. However, the effect of pathology on development was not obviously apparent or easily anticipated. Symptoms alone could be misleading; the same clinical picture had different meanings for different children depending on the impact on development.

The necessity for assessing the mental health of young children has been increasingly recognized as our society turns to planning for preventive and clinical mental-health services for all the children in the community. The developing interest in questions of prevention and service on a large scale demands that experts in the mentalhealth field face up to the problem of devising appropriate techniques for identification at an early age of those children who need and can benefit from various forms of special services. In an attempt to explore this problem, the Child Development Center undertook a research project seven years ago with the aim of constructing a schedule for the assessment of development during the first six years-one that would be useable by different professional groups in their evaluation of children. As a first step toward achieving this goal, a comprehensive outline based on psychoanalytic developmental psychology was tried out with a sample population of children who were attending a community nursery-school. The process of constructing a comprehensive assessment outline for a nonclinical population; the difficulties encountered in making decisions about some of the children; and the finding that most

The remarks that follow represent no more than qualitative reflections upon: (1) participation in a six-day colloquium with Israeli colleagues; (2) day-long visits to representative kibbutzim; and (3) review of the available literature as excerpted for the Institute participants. We made no systematic observations on the kibbutz children themselves. We are here indebted to the thoroughness of our Israeli hosts in setting before us both their accomplishments and their concerns. They had called upon us to take part in sifting the results of their experience, yet we cannot obviate the problems inherent in their role as participants in a great social movement as this may influence their observations. Moreover, any generalizations we are tempted to make must at once be qualified by the fact that there are three major kibbutz federations, each with somewhat different positions on fundamental issues. Indeed, the fierce individuality of the founders is reflected in passionate differences between kibbutzim that belong to the same federation. Finally, the collective movement is a dynamic and evolving system. What was so yesterday is different today. What is widespread today may be no more than a localized anachronism tomorrow. The movement is anything but tradition bound.

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article ArticleNo AccessSocial Work and Social LivingPETER B. NEUBAUERPETER B. NEUBAUERSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:1 Apr 2006https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.110.5.396-aAboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail "Social Work and Social Living." American Journal of Psychiatry, 110(5), pp. 396-a–396 Access content To read the fulltext, please use one of the options below to sign in or purchase access. Personal login Institutional Login Sign in via OpenAthens Purchase Save for later Item saved, go to cart PPV Articles - American Journal of Psychiatry $35.00 Add to cart PPV Articles - American Journal of Psychiatry Checkout Please login/register if you wish to pair your device and check access availability. Not a subscriber? Subscribe Now / Learn More PsychiatryOnline subscription options offer access to the DSM-5 library, books, journals, CME, and patient resources. This all-in-one virtual library provides psychiatrists and mental health professionals with key resources for diagnosis, treatment, research, and professional development. Need more help? PsychiatryOnline Customer Service may be reached by emailing [email protected] or by calling 800-368-5777 (in the U.S.) or 703-907-7322 (outside the U.S.). FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited byNone Volume 110Issue 5 November 1953Pages 396-a-396 Metrics PDF download History Published online 1 April 2006 Published in print 1 November 1953