This article reviews studies evaluating the effectiveness of two types of early intervention programmes for babies with Down's syndrome (DS). Evaluation of self-help early intervention programmes was done with two types of training with the parents: in the first the parents learned the training programme from observing the clinician, and in the second the parents were taught self-help skills through described instructions. A sample of 16 DS babies was used. The analyses of the results established positive changes. Differences were seen in the self-help skills development of DS babies whose parents were exposed to observed early intervention. (Contains 3 tables and 2 figures.)