The development of an adopted child recovering from severe malnutrition. Case report.

The growth and developmental level (DQ) of a child who was in hospital with severe protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) at nine months of age and was subsequently exposed to a greatly improved environment are described. The child was a subject in a longitudinal study, and his progress is compared with that of 16 other children recovering from severe PEM who continued to live in poor homes. All children had regular developmental assessments over five years and their growth was measured. The study child showed dramatic improvements in DQ, and at five years was over two standard deviations above the mean score of the other group. Compared with the other children, he improved more in weight but remained similar in height.