A study of 20 toddlers with infantile anorexia tested a therapeutic intervention that helps parents understand and deal with the infant's temperament, addresses the difficulties the parents may have in setting limits, and provides parents with recommendations on how to structure meal times in order to facilitate internal regulation of eating.…

Examined ways early childhood teachers in three Australian schools rationalized children's literacy failure on Queensland's Year 2 Diagnostic Net. Found that teachers' narratives clustered into three groups: blaming families, blaming children, and moving beyond blame to focus on teaching; all teachers based pedagogical intervention decisions on a…

At-risk students in southern United States were surveyed using the "Things I Worry About Scale." From their responses, 13 categories were ranked from most salient to least salient. The rank order was then compared to that obtained with a normative group in Northern Ireland. The significant correlation between the two seemingly disparate…

Administered Revised Fear Survey Schedule for Children to 129 visually impaired children and 129 normally sighted children to determine whether visually impaired subjects reported greater fear. Found the two groups did not significantly differ on overall level of fearfulness, although sighted children expressed greater levels on fear of failure…

When closely examining America's children, we see that even basic needs for care, shelter, food, and love are going unmet for millions. Family, society, and school are failing children barraged with conflicting consumer messages. The restoration of childhood demands creation of enlightened social policy and child-friendly islands of decency.…

Findings of this study suggest that the sexually abused label on a child may lead teachers to demand and expect less academically, even in situations where a child is capable of more. Recommendations for teachers are discussed. (JD)

Examines personality traits and life circumstances which place adolescents at higher risk for suicide. Discusses depression, acute suicidal behavior, poor family relationships, alcohol and drug use, recent loss, failure in school, and other characteristics. Urges parents and professionals to know suicide signs and be active in prevention and…

Replication and extension of previous research linking child age to referral for psychological services indicates younger students were referred more often, the referral pattern could not be explained by competency differences, Caucasian students were referred at higher rates, and a trend linking the proportionate referral rate of students…

This article reviews the literature on the effectiveness of grade retention for high-risk students and discusses the implications of this research for students with learning disabilities. It notes that, despite evidence that retention is ineffective for most students, many educators and laypersons continue to support this practice. (DB)

Social and cultural norms, institutional reinforcements, and adult oversight that used to enforce a moratorium on adolescent sexual activity have been largely relaxed, and the present approach to sex education is merely leaving adolescents adrift to fend for themselves. It is time to overhaul comprehensive sex education. (SLD)

Suicide is analyzed as a motivation to escape from adversive self-awareness. The causal chain is traced from initial failures that are attributed internally because of a cognitively deconstructed state. (SLD)

It is inappropriate to judge high school teachers' failure rates without making appropriate modifications to reflect student-caused failures. Devising an adjusted failure rate addresses this problem. If properly placed students with 10 or more days absent and 10% or more missing homework assignments are removed from failure numbers, the…

Philosopher Nicholas Burbules' believed the tragedy of education was that in striving to educate, some teachers would inevitably fail some students, changing the students' lives tragically. The article analyzes the tragic sense of education that summons teachers to recollect more deeply the cause that started them on their endeavor. (SM)

According to a recent survey of Nebraska school board presidents, superintendencies most often fail because of poor people skills, failure to communicate, questionable ethics, and skirmishes over staffing. Fully 28 out of 75 incidents cited concerned problems with superintendents who were intimidating, reluctant to share information, publicly…

The investigation assessed whether 6 learning-disabled boys (ages 10-12) who were taking stimulant medication reported fewer adaptive attributions in academic situations than their 8 nonmedicated peers. Boys who were not taking medication reported more internal-effort attributions in failure situations than boys who were taking medication.…