More than 10 years ago, with funding from the Connecticut State Depart-
ment of Education and the encouragement of its consultant on early
child- hood special education, Virginia Volk, we began our studies
offamilies of infants who were hospitalized on the newborn intensive
care unit of the John Dempsey Hospital located at the University of
Connecticut Health Center. BettyJo McGrade, Deborah Allen, and Maria
McQueeney played pivotal roles in the early years ofthis research
program. Additional funding from the National March of Dimes Foundation,
the University of Con- necticut Research Foundation, and the National
Institute ofMental Health prepared the ground for the study we describe
in this book. The study began in 1984 through a National Institute of
Disability and Rehabilitation Research center grant to the University of
Connecticut Pediatric Research and Training Center, directed by Robert
Greenstein and then by Mary Beth Bruder. LindaWalkercoordinated the
project and conducted the interviews with families before hospital
discharge. Pamela Higgins conducted all follow-up interviews and
assisted with data manage- ment and analysis. Elizabeth Trueb Roscher
provided support services to a portion of the fanrilies who were
studied. Deborah Begin transcribed interviews and handled the
administrative details of the project. Richard Mendola was
theconsultanton data analysis and the selectionofcomputer software and
hardware.