Wouldn’t it be great if we had a crystal ball to show us what the children we care for now will be doing in 30 years? Dr. Joseph Sparling had the rare privilege of following up with some of the children who were part of his Abecedarian Project more than 30 years ago. In an episode of Brain Child, a National Geographic documentary television series that aired last fall, Dr. Sparling told the story of the young children who participated in his study and how they fared after receiving enriched child care that included LearningGames^® activities.

In one segment of Brain Child, disadvantaged families in rural North Carolina look back on the opportunities that the Abecedarian Project and LearningGames^® gave their children when they were very young. One of the former participants featured in the film sums up his experience by saying, “Everything goes back to early learning!” Today he is a Boys Club director in New York, and his mother says, “He’s teaching me in my life now.”

What are other children from the original longitudinal study doing now? It turns out that many work in helping professions. One former participant is now a minister, and several others are teachers. According to the Boys Club director, “If I hadn’t had that [the Abecedarian and LearningGames^® experience], who knows where I would have been?”

Visit the MindNurture Web site to read more about the benefits of Abecedarian intervention and discover how you can use LearningGames^® activities to foster children’s learning and development.

A videoclip from Brain Child is available online at www.mindnurture.com/brain_content.