Describes technique developed by the Barking Reading Project to judge relevance of visual sequential memory to reading. A study which used this technique to assess the effects of labelling strategy on sequential memory tasks is compared with alternative assessments, and results are discussed in terms of task analysis and structuralist approaches.…

Comparison of eight-year-old children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (n=21), learning disorder (LD) (n=12), or both (n=27) on neuropsychological measures found that ADHD children were impaired in control and inhibition of impulses; children with LD in phonological awareness, verbal memory span, storytelling, and verbal IQ;…

Background: Dissociation--a pattern of general disruption in memory and consciousness--has been found to be an important cognitive component of children's and adults' coping with severe trauma. Dissociative experiences include amnesia, identity disturbance, age regression, difficulty with concentration, and trance states. Stable individual…

The number skills of groups of 7- to 9-year-old children with specific language impairment (SLI) attending mainstream or special schools were compared with an age and nonverbal reasoning matched group (age control [AC]) and with a younger group matched on oral language comprehension. The SLI groups performed below the AC group on every skill. They…

Along with ongoing research on the WAIS-R, short forms of the WAIS-III have attracted much attention. However, few studies of WAIS-III short forms are based on normal samples or on the validation of estimated indexes. This study examined the utility of two seven-subtest short forms in 81 healthy young adults in Taiwan with the administration of…

This study investigated growth in reading, vocabulary, and memory in children (ages 5 to 10) learning English as a second language identified at risk for reading disabilities (RD). A growth curve analysis showed that RD children were significantly below children not at risk in English and Spanish reading, Spanish short-term memory (STM), Spanish…

A study compared the effects of cognitive complexity on the speech production of 14 advanced non-native speakers of English and 14 native English-speakers. Cognitively simple and complex tasks were distinguished based on text type (narrative versus expository). Subjects read one narrative and one expository text in separate sessions, then wrote…

A study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of two procedures (1) in training children to perform sequences of emergency fire responses and (2) in facilitating long-term maintenance of correct responses. Subjects, 47 black third-grade children, were divided into external instruction, self-instruction, and control groups. In the…

Compares the different criteria used to identify poor spellers and readers from good spellers and readers. Findings reveal that visual memory of orthographic sequences may help to differentiate between poor and good spellers. (CB)

Two experiments examine whether the encoding of location meets criteria defining an automatic process. Automatic processes are not expected to show developmental changes beyond an early age. They appear to be unrelated to intelligence level and unaffected by instructions. Results support Hasher and Zack's automaticity hypothesis. (RWB)

In two studies, children's memory of venipuncture or inoculations were compared with memory of less stressful events. In another study, natural variations in children's stress and the effect of short delays were examined. In yet another study, a delay interval of one year was examined. (BB)

Examined sex differences in perceptual and cognitive abilities and in reading skills among 922 first graders in the United States, India, and Taiwan. Found that girls scored significantly higher than boys on reading skills, visual memory, directionality, and ability to track nonsymbolic figures. Urban children outscored rural children on four…

Language and reading outcomes at 13 years of age were examined in 28 children identified at 24 to 31 months as late talkers, all of whom came from middle--to upper-class socioeconomic status (SES) families and had normal nonverbal ability and age-adequate receptive language at intake. Late talkers were compared with a group of 25 typically…

The phonologically transparent Persian orthography is normally transcribed with two distinct spellings; words spelled with vowels (letters) transcribed as a fixed part of the spelling (transparent) and words spelled with vowels (diacritics) omitted (opaque). Three groups of Persian readers, namely developmental dyslexics (n = 29, mean age = 9.4,…

Purpose: Recent research suggests that nonword repetition (NWR) and sentence repetition (SR) tasks can be used to discriminate between children with SLI and their typically developing age-matched (TDAM) and younger (TDY) peers. Method: Fourteen Cantonese-speaking children with SLI and 30 of their TDAM and TDY peers were compared on NWR and SR…