This article uses a case study of a deaf-blind infant to examine issues in the early cognitive development of such infants. The study used an ecological approach involving naturalistic observation, videotaping, anecdotal accounts, and the use of four global developmental scales. (DB)

Proposes that the self is constituted in narrative and that development can be seen as the self's effort at rewriting its account of the world. (LB)

After reviewing recent research on child language development under age five, this article discusses classroom discourse and identifies factors that may promote or inhibit pupils' mastery of the later phases of linguistic development. (30 references) (Author/LB)

Gives an overview of the 10 research articles in this issue. Notes that all studies in this issue examine child behavior from a perspective that views behavior as mediated by social context, challenging the logical positivism of conventional experimentation. (MM)

Examined discourse styles of mothers and fathers when talking separately with their three year olds about shared events. Found two distinct narrative styles, neither of which was associated with parent gender. Parents of daughters were generally more elaborative than parents of sons, and daughters participated in the conversations to a greater…

Examined whether preschool children focus on a small number of attributes or attend to whole exemplars in learning basic categories for fictitious animals. Found little evidence that children employed rules, but found strong evidence that children encoded exemplars as integrated wholes during category training. Discusses implications for theories…

Used pictorial and verbal interviews to measure what children aged three to eight years learned from drug education. Posttest results revealed that children (n=26) who received intervention knew significantly more about several drugs than did matched comparison group (n=26). Both pictorial and verbal methods were useful in measuring what children…

Advocates hands-on activities for preschool children that develop the skills that form the foundation for abstract thinking. Concrete experiences in reading, writing, math and science will develop motor skills and concept formation, and make the move into higher level academics a comfortable and natural process. (SH)

The conceptual categories that children have developed in their second year were studied in five experiments using object manipulation tasks. Subjects included 152 children from 18 to 31 months of age. These very young children had formed global conceptions of many domains of objects. (SLD)

Two experiments were conducted in an effort to determine whether young children overestimate message quality because they evaluate their knowledge or assumptions about the intended meaning of the message rather than its literal meaning. (PCB)

The validity of the fourth edition of the Stanford-Binet (S-B IV) test was studied with 30 linguistically precocious children at ages 20, 24, and 30 months. Validity at 24 months was questionable. Problems in using the test with very young children are discussed. (SLD)

Provides examples of practices utilized by school-based family support programs, explaining how family support programs work to ready children for school. Considerations for staffing family support programs are examined, including what type of staff to hire, components of a quality workplace, and types of staff development necessary. (SM)

Discusses how outdoor play can be as effective as indoor play in facilitating young children's development. Offers advice on selection of toys and materials; organization of play spaces; addition of movable toys and equipment; ways to stimulate imaginative outdoor play; and playground safety. (TJQ)

Interviews with 22 mothers of children with ambulatory disability and 33 nondisabled siblings showed no differences in sibling's child care responsibilities, general home responsibilities, or independence related to severity of the ambulatory disability. A difference in the amount of social activity, reported by mothers, was not confirmed by…

Describes the absorbent mind as the manifestation of individual unconscious and as the unconscious forces manifested in nature's evolution. The natural creative unconscious directs the instinctive balance of nonhuman lives. Human consciousness creates a conscious, human-made universe, a cultural and technological zone, which evolves on its own…