Prediction of Intellectual Development in Young Children With Early Histories of Nonorganic Failure-to-Thrive

Abstract

The cognitive development (Stanford-Binet IQ) of children (N = 59) originally hospitalized for nonorganic failure-to-thrive (NOFT) at an average age of 4.9 months was assessed at 36 months of age. Cognitive development declined from a Bayley MDI of 99.6 at study intake to 85.4 at age 36 months. Type of early outreach intervention did not effect cognitive development. Using a multivariate predictive model, environmental characteristics (family income and maternal educational level) and characteristics of NOFT (age of onset) accounted for significant amounts of variance (22 and 10%, respectively) in intellectual outcomes. Predictors also successfully identified 74% of individual children with average vs. below average cognitive development. These findings underscore the importance of individual difference variables in the prediction of psychological outcomes in NOFT