The role of speech in child development is examined, reasons for lack of speech in school are suggested (including anxiety, shock, overprotection, abuse, or anger), and four recommendations for teacher action are offered (including having empathy and encouraging other means of communication). (CL)

A newly-appointed principal describes the responses of schoolchildren, and how the responses vary according to age and experience, as the children adjust to her presence after the departure of a beloved predecessor. (Author/MLF)

Describes the development of one child's awareness of print and the stages he passed through while learning to read from birth to age two. (FL)

Evidence for the increasing recognition of maturational lag in addition to intellectual impairment, associated with the syndrome of early onset psychosis, is presented to indicate that developmental variables play a central role in the behavioral profile of autistic children. (Author)

Describes the Ready-Set-Go Infant-Child-Parent Program, established to enhance the development of the cognitive competencies of high risk and normal infants through parent awareness of developmental capabilities. (GC)

Ten elements comprising the basic level of play therapy with children are presented, and the "resort" model, upon which successful play therapy is based, is discussed. (MJB)

The nature and development of communicative abilities in young children is introduced as the central theme of this issue of "Theory into Practice." (JD)

Rudolph Laban's theories of movement can be adapted to various skill development activities for elementary school children. (LH)

The three theories considered are H. S. Adelman's interactional model of learning disabilities, A. O. Ross' theory of developmental lag in selective attention, and J. K. Torgesen's conceptualization of the learning disabled child as an inactive learner. (Author/DLS)

Many contemporary educators view the child as the embodiment of incorporal essence. Unless the assistance of angels is invoked, says the author, it is difficult to understand how a child can achieve happiness according to current prescriptions. Criticizes teaching methods and educational attitudes concerning the proper way to develop children in…

The lineage of developmental psychology has involved three waves of research in the 1890s (Hall), 1930s, and 1960s (Piaget). Over these years, a cooperative knowledge-building process arose, fostered by new journals in the 1930s, in which articles built upon one another and sustained or redirected trains of thought among a community of…

Explores the work of L. Vygotsky and J. Piaget and suggests that by the early 1930s they had reached almost identical positions regarding child development. Asserts that the theory of each is complementary to the other. Discusses the implications of this position for a theory of intervention for cognitive acceleration. (SLD)

Studied the emergence of general cognitive ability ("g") in early development and its genetic developmental etiology in 6,963 pairs of twins at 2, 3, and 4 years. Findings show phenotypic "g" to be evident early in life, with genetic influence less in early childhood than in middle childhood or after adolescence and that…

Discusses when one can infer children's use of a rule, the mechanisms underlying the development of rule use, and the relation between understanding and execution. Contrasts relational complexity theory with cognitive complexity and control theory. (Author/KB)

Compared three developmental stage scoring systems in analyzing judgment interviews with 209 children and adults. Scoring systems were: (1) the Standard Issue Scoring System (A. Colby and L. Kohlberg, 1987); (2) the Good Life Scoring System (C. Armon, 1984); and (3) the Hierarchical Complexity Scoring System (M. Commons and others, 2000).…