Examined the relationship between early otitis media in children attending day care and children's subsequent behavior in the day care classroom when they were well. Found that day care children with chronic otitis media in the first three years of life play alone more often and have fewer verbal interactions with peers than nonchronic children.…

Examines if a few seconds of high school teachers' nonverbal (NV) behavior can predict students' ratings of these teachers (SRT). NV behaviors while administering the class and using the board were unrelated to SRT. Positive judgments of NV behavior while disciplining the class and interacting with students were positively related to SRT.…

Investigated the influence of a talker's face (e.g., articulatory gestures) and voice, vocalic context, and word position in the training of Japanese and Korean English as a Second Language to identify American English /r/ and /l/. Findings revealed significant effects of training type, talker, word position, and vowel. Findings are compatible…

Discusses teachers' sensitivity in the context of young children's peer conflicts. Explains that young children need to experience their own actions as logical and sound and that they co-construct logic-in-action (procedural knowledge) long before they can verbalize their logic. Maintains that teachers who do not respect children's logic often…

Effects of the Picture Exchange Communication System on the spontaneous communication skills and social interactions of a 6-year-old girl with autism across her home and school environments were evaluated. Results indicated increases in spontaneous language, increases in intelligible verbalizations in two of three settings, and changes in peer…

Tested hypothesis that a personalized acquaintance rape prevention program reduces risk-taking behavior and increases perception of vulnerability. Seventy female college students were exposed to Acquaintance Rape Prevention Program with experimentals and controls receiving personalized or nonpersonalized instruction, respectively. Findings showed…

Examines the effects of facial expression and posture of teachers on the reactions of schoolchildren. Finds that smiling and frowning have strong effects while the effects of posture and gesture are weaker. Reports that touch and explaining gestures are seen as positive by the students and controlling gestures are viewed as negative. (KO)

Compares the communication patterns of individuals in racially homogenous groups to their communication in racially heterogeneous groups. Asserts that both Black women and White women exhibit different patterns of interaction when communicating in racially homogenous groups. (SR)

Studies the ability of 14 Down's Syndrome infants and 14 preterm infants aged 12 months to attend to and explore their environment in interactions with their mothers. Results indicate that mothers used different attention-directing strategies and that strategies used were differentially related to the child's attentional capacity. (RJC)

Study found differential effects for five types of teacher directions (verbal instruction, nonverbal instruction, verbal instruction with physical assistance, nonverbal instruction with physical assistance, and physical assistance) with 24 severely behaviorally disordered students, aged 9-16. Nonverbal commands resulted in the most appropriate…

By inserting a typical instructional trial into an ongoing sequence of behaviors, three students, aged six-seven, with severe disabilities were taught to request items or events within interrupted behavior chain contexts. The strategy was effective in establishing initial communicative responses in the three learners. Responses generalized to…

This study explored the ability of 273 adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) to recognize facial affect cues. In general, the EBD subjects were less accurate than non-EBD peers in recognizing facial affect cues. However, adolescents with externalizing disorders were as proficient as non-EBD adolescents in their recognition of…

Movement of all types can become a healthy part of classroom activity. Movement can be an activity in and of itself, or it can become part of existing activities, for example, having children act out a concept being studied or the actions of people or objects in stories being told. (JW)

Six young children (ages 25 to 40 months) with delays in language comprehension were presented with stimulus items in 3 conditions: (1) object cue and speech, (2) movement cue and speech, or (3) speech alone. All children identified referents with fewer trials when object or movement cues were used with speech compared to use of speech alone.…

Examined adolescents' verbal and nonverbal behavior in 30 female-male dyads. All behaviors were coded. Analysis of videotaped interactions revealed more similarities between girls and boys than differences, although gender distinctions were evident in speaking time and in smiling. Results focus on developmental and contextual accounts of…