Item — HN Reader

> it would be nice to know which interventions actually affect adult intelligence

sure, that would be nice. it does seem pretty clear that as a general rule, well-resourced students are more likely to get accepted into, and graduate from, elite schools. Happy to back that claim up with some research if you like.

> The word gap research isn't a randomized trial

No, its a growing body of research including many studies. [0] And it was an example I used to illustrate how well-resourced students achieve more in school, even from a young age.

[0] https://doi.org/10.1080/02702711.2010.495638

1 comments

> well-resourced students are more likely to get accepted into, and graduate from, elite schools. Happy to back that claim up with some research if you like.

We agree on this, but it's also a major confounder for observational word gap studies. And though we try, it's very difficult to fully control for confounders.

The holy grail would be interventions that can improve adult intelligence but unfortunately a lot of interventions that look promising in short term studies see their benefits disappear by the time the children reach adulthood. There don't appear to be any long term studies on this yet (I know this is a big ask).