Research on childhood disability views disabled children as passive and dependent and excludes the voice of disabled children themselves. Because research has been preoccupied with impairment, vulnerability, and service usage, it has concealed disabled children's role as social actors. New approaches to disability and to childhood are needed to…

Uses the Cross model of Black identity development as a framework for discussion of the developmental stages of American-Indian identity: pre-encounter, encounter, immersion/emersion, and internalization. Discusses identity conflicts encountered in various scenarios related to biracial or bicultural status, adoptions, mixed-race families, parent…

This study, with 180 deaf or hard of hearing infants and toddlers grouped into four age ranges, found highly significant interrelationships among the four categories of play and the four aspects of communicative development studied. The development of autosymbolic play, age of hearing loss identification, and symbolic object distribution accounted…

Examined the interaction of educational utility, academic performance, and racial identity among African American college students, identifying clusters of students with differing profiles on a black identity inventory, then relating clusters to racial ideology. Results highlighted several profiles of high-achieving African American students with…

This commentary on a previous article that described the use of topological thinking in the field of mental retardation discusses appropriate scientific uses of typologies, what categories are and how they are used in social and biomedical sciences, and the importance of typologies for scientific and practical progress. (Contains extensive…

This rejoinder to a criticism of an article that decried the use of topological thinking in the mental retardation field argues that topological thinking is a form of psychological existentialism that offers a reductive approach to human development. It urges the inclusion of individual as well as group scores in studies. (Contains references.)…

This article discusses the history, methodology, and assessment of giftedness by Russian psychologists from the 1920s through the present. The review indicates that because of the ban on psychometric testing, a powerful theoretical tradition emerged and continues and that Russia tends to a multifaceted definition of giftedness. (Contains extensive…

Children and adolescents (N=199) with autistic disorder were audiologically evaluated. Mild to moderate hearing loss was diagnosed in 7.9 percent, with deafness diagnosed in 3.5 percent of all cases, which represented a prevalence considerably above that in the general population and comparable to the prevalence found in populations with mental…

This article presents evidence that the broad population of children classified as chronically ill is at increased risk for psychoeducational and language-learning disorders. It describes six health conditions in which language-learning disorders are often present and explores challenging issues for transdisciplinary service delivery. (Author/CR)

Reports results from two studies, involving 1,267 and 147 college students that explored students' role-balance expectations for their future career, marital, and parental identities. Results from both studies provide evidence that contradicts previous assumptions about gender differences in expectations for work and family roles. (SLD)

The purpose of this study is to ascertain whether hardiness can be used by student affairs professionals to identify students (N=63) having difficulties with academic, social, emotional, and attachment adjustment. Results show that hardiness is associated with better adjustment and hardiness appears to be a better predictor of mental than physical…

The unconscious belief that everyone in society should be "normal" creates the pain of discrimination for those who are disabled. This narrative relates the author's personal experience of growing up disabled and her overcompensation for "Abelism." Learning to embrace the label "disabled" and make new choices provides…

Maintains that van Hoof misrepresents views of theorists and researchers working with identity status constructs. Examines the paradigm's theoretical underpinnings and the construct validity of ego identity. Provides empirical evidence for six propositions within the theory of identity status development. Examines literature reviewed by van Hoof…

A comparison of 46 language-delayed and 62 normal language onset children examined whether early language delay would predict autistic symptomatology in children diagnosed with autism when young and at an older age. Results found that early language delays predicted more autistic symptomatology when young, but not at an older age. (Author/CR)

Focuses on the identity formation of Japanese students temporarily living in the United States. The students were enrolled in Japanese Saturday school and in American public schools. Student interviews reveal a mixture of Japanese and American characteristics. Suggests Japanese students do not reject either culture--Japanese or American--but that…