Between a rock and a hard place: Curriculum development in a preschool devoted to children who have been prenatally exposed to cocaine and other dangerous drugs

Dramatic increases in the number of children exposed to drugs passed through the umbilical cord have been encountered in the past few years. This is due to the widespread availability of a super-potent form of cocaine known as "rock cocaine" or "crack." The neurological damage caused by exposure to cocaine in the uterus can cause abnormal cognitive and behavioral development. The long-term results of such fetal exposure is believed by many to be a decreased ability to function and learn in schools.;This dissertation investigates curriculum development and implementation at an intervention program striving to provide effective preschool learning experiences for children who have been fetally exposed to crack and other dangerous drugs. In this dissertation I examine the overall problem by presenting the dangers that cocaine use poses to its victims--the users and their unborn children. I review relevant literature in the areas of medicine and education to show how neurological damage that begins in the womb can cause abnormal cognitive and behavioral development; and describe both the research site and the methods that were used to conduct the research.;Participant observation methods were used to identify and describe the classroom policies and procedures that the program's staff used to implement curriculum, making what was implicitly known to the group explicit. The results of the research are a description of the techniques being used to care for fetally drug-exposed children and an illustration of how communication between the staff determined how curriculum was designed and implemented.;Using the techniques described here other teachers will be able to prepare their students for elementary school and further refine these processes and procedures to make care for drug exposed children fully effective. Further research will verify the effectiveness of these techniques and describe to what degree the effects of the drugs may be eliminated.