Journal of pediatric psychology
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Evaluated the hypothesis that more effective prognosis is achieved by assessing the modifiability of infants' reactions than by evaluating the presence or absence of normal/abnormal reactions. To evaluate this hypothesis the Neurobehavioral Assessment Scale (NAS) was developed. ⋯ The NAS was administered to 102 high-risk infants repeatedly over the first 16 months of life. Analysis confirmed that the modifiability of performance was predictive of outcome significantly earlier in development than scoring the same items in terms of their normalcy or abnormalcy.