Small family size has a number of apparently positive effects on a child's intellectual development. Discusses trends in Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores which strongly parallel changes in American family size. Intelligence Quotient (IQ) scores also reflect family size and parent education level; larger families correlate with lower IQs. (DH)

Results of the study involving 16 quadriplegic children (9 months-12 years old) indicated that early cognitive milestones can be achieved by children severely physically disabled since birth and that general intellectual level may be more important than severity of the motor handicap in determining such achievement. (Author/CL)

Performance on a battery of cognitive measures was analyzed in terms of hand preference for 62 children (5-17 years old) with Pervasive Developmental Disorders including autism. There was a clear (though nonsignificant) trend on all tests for left-handers to have higher scores than right-handers. Mixed-hand preference Ss demonstrated the lowest…

Reviews a model of cognitive development relating the self and self-evaluation, guidelines for applying the model, and counseling applications. Recognizes that individuals may vary their level of abstraction depending on such things as the source of information, the context, and the part of the self being discussed. (LLL)

Argues that cognitive and affective systems do not develop in parallel and that affects serve a communicative function. (RH)

Results of Snijders-Oomen Nonverbal Intelligence Test for 251 deaf and 101 hearing children in Israel included that (1) factor structure for total deaf group differs from that of hearing group; (2) differences in cognitive structure were evident by age level for deaf; and (3) differences exist between cognitive structures of hearing and deaf…

Research established a moderate relation between toy availability and children's development throughout early childhood. Several aspects of psychological theory appear to describe part of the relation: cognitive developmental theory, relating learning and development, script theory, theories of intrinsic motivation, and theories relating play to…

The paper presents a review of the constituent skills and environmental factors which influence the initial onset and continued acquisition of requests for information in normally developing children to provide the foundation for a protocol for assessing and treating children impaired in requesting information. Specific assessment and treatment…

Observation of 14 autistic and 14 nonautistic children of equivalent mental age revealed that autistic Ss showed evidence of attachment to their mothers. Among autistic Ss, those showing increased attachment behaviors in response to separation and reunion demonstrated more advanced symbolic play skills than those showing no attachment change.…

Researchers in diverse fields are constructing a new intellectual direction and a new image of human nature. This article sketches some of the resulting implications for teacher education, especially the importance of "consciousness" as a legitimate topic of scholarly and scientific inquiry. (Author/CB)

Education and behavior science share many concerns and their expertise should be complementary. Practical implications of theories need to be derived and field tested. This article focuses on Piaget's stages of development and how Piagetian theory can be translated into educational language so that research useful to teachers can be initiated. (MT)

Move sequence analysis revealed that, when presented with problems having subgoals difficult to order, 40 preschoolers between 45 and 70 months of age (1) tended to avoid backup; (2) were sensitive to incremental progress toward a goal; and (3) searched moves ahead for a goal. None of several indices of performance were reliably correlated with…

The ability of 96 children (five, eight, and 12 years old) to nominate strategic social action that would alter a peer's ongoing emotional state was examined. Nominated strategies were appropriate to the emotional state to be altered; a shift with age from material intervention strategies to strategies involving verbal intervention or helping was…

Reviewed research with the Twenty Questions Task aimed at investigating problem solving across the life span. Research indicates use of an efficient problem-solving strategy increases during childhood and then decreases again during the later adult years. Elderly adults' performance was facilitated when the necessity of using an efficient strategy…

Fifth graders, ninth graders, college students, and persons over age sixty-five were given pencil-and-paper tasks in spatial development. Discusses results in terms of ecological validity, experience, and number of competing cues to be processed simultaneously. Used Piaget's formulation on adult cognitive development to explain elderly's…