Children of methadone-treated women at five years of age.

Infants of methadone-treated and matched non-drug dependent women were found to differ in psychomotor development at one year of age. A follow-up of these groups at age five revealed no differences in cognitive or perceptual performance as assessed by the McCarthy Scales, although both groups performed below normative expectations. Groups did not differ in observed characteristics of home environments or patterns of child or caregiver behavior in a playroom observation, although children who had been transplacentally exposed to narcotics behaved less maturely and were more inappropriately active during psychological testing.