These mechanisms affect later stages of the lifecycle, when children have reached school age or working age. But a growing body of research suggests that the intergenerational perpetuation of deprivation begins before birth and that the intergenerational transmission of advantage may already be advanced when children enter the education system. It has also been connected to children's developmental outcomes such as motor skills, cognitive ability, emotional stability, attention deficit disorder and early educational achievement. The antenatal period includes critical and sensitive developmental stages in which the effect of the environment on future capabilities is especially strong and potentially irreversible, regardless of subsequent interventions.