Home Instruction

I read with interest your article “EXXCEL Links Home With the School” (June 22). It was a very encouraging piece, although it had one error. A USC dean said he “believed that the project was the first of its kind in the nation.”

The San Fernando Valley Child Guidance Clinic has a similar project that is now in its third year. The clinic’s program, Home Instruction, links home and school. Last year the program raised preschoolers’ IQ 48 points, a highly significant difference compared to the control group.

It is noteworthy that the clinic’s program used none of the rewards of the USC program (“a study room stocked with textbooks, computers and reference materials; . . . a break on the rent . . . cash, movie tickets or trips to Disneyland . . . a scholarship to USC.”) The motivation of the program staff and the families was sufficient to produce significant change.

STEPHAN J. FLEISHER

Head, Adolescent & Family Division

San Fernando Valley Child Guidance Clinic

Northridge