Partial recovery from severe child neglect and abuse

A 3-year-old boy and his 9-month old sister received developmental assessments 2 weeks after removal from a neglectful and abusive family. The children were evaluated for a second time 5 months after removal, after spending the interval together in a foster care setting. They received no specialized services geared toward stimulating their development. Significant impairments in growth, cognition, adaptive skills, and language noted during the initial assessment were not as evident at followup. The developmental profiles, however, were not normal. The largest gains were in adaptive skills. Expressive language skills remained relatively impaired. It appears that significant developmental gains can occur in developmentally impaired children who are removed from an abusive and neglectful home and placed in foster care for several months.