Parenting Class Improves Children's IQ

By Joan Oleck -- School Library Journal, 2/21/2008 9:18:00 AM

Children whose parents took an eight-week class in communication and child-rearing techniques showed a notable improvement in their cognitive abilities, say preliminary results of brain research by University of Oregon scientists.

Twenty-eight low-income preschool children ages three to five took brain scans and standardized language and IQ tests. All fourteen of those whose parents had attended meetings devoted to parenting training showed an average of a six point improvement in their IQ scores, while the 14 control-group children whose parents received no training showed no significant changes.

Those whose parents received training also showed improved language, memory, and attention skills.

Scientists at the University of Oregon's Brain Development Lab were surprised by the sizeable increases in cognitive ability and other brain function. "We were actually fairly astonished at the magnitude of the changes," Helen Neville, director of the Lab and a neuropsychologist, told the Washington Times.

The research is being conducted as part of a larger study about brain development in high-risk children enrolled in the federal Head Start program.