[Recovering from a lag in psychological development after harmful environmental factors have been eliminated]

This paper reports the long term effects of deprived environments and the possibility of recovery from delays in psychological development after removal of perturbing influences. Two groups of children who had suffered from deprivation with either low IQ (76 for G I) or high IQ (112 for G II) towards the age of 7 have been reared in a private permanent foster care (the SOS children's villages) after family rupture. They have been reassessed between 5-10 years during adolescence (IQ, school attainment, behaviour). Results are compared with those of children with identical IQ still leaving in their deprived homes or under care in traditional foster care families. Thanks to the ecological and environmental change recovery is possible particularly from cognitive delays; behaviour problems need much more time to decrease or to disappear. Age at placement exerts differential effects according to the developmental processes in action (intelligence, behaviour).