[Efficiency of early therapy in mentally retarded children]

Although basic experimental results suggest how much the psychophysical organism can be influenced in particular during early childhood, the question of the effectiveness of early therapy in particular cases nevertheless comes up. First the problem of early therapeutic programs with regard to method and controllability is discussed. Then a concept for early therapy, the Munich "Developmental Therapy" is reported. Finally a report is given on a study of 151 Down's syndrome children, 0-3 years old, in whom the effectiveness of an early developmental therapy could be proved. A follow-up study of 15 children, 7-10 years old, in comparison with a parallel control group, confirmed these results.