The use of the well baby clinic to promote early intellectual development via parent education

One of the persistent problems of the inner city ghetto is the educational deficit of a large part of the public school population. The progressive decline in performance of poor children that continues throughout their school careers now concerns not only educators but all professionals in child care related fields. The pre school years are crucial in developing the perceptual motor and language skills on which later school performance is based. The mother, the child's first teacher, can effectively promote intellectual development when given tutoring and experience in how early learning occurs. For this reason, it was decided to use the waiting time in an ambulatory pediatric facility to provide parents with substantive information in early learning. In this way the playroom, which primarily provided a baby sitting service, could more effectively meet the needs of the community.