Considers awareness, form, and use of notation by normally achieving and school-identified learning-disabled first-grade students. Finds that young normally achieving children spontaneously recorded and organized information, whereas learning-disabled children were more tentative in the use of notation. Suggests that the performance of…

Using a dynamic systems approach, examined the development of intralimb coordination over the first year of independent walking in three infants. Found that, in the first month of walking, there was much instability between the thigh and shank of the leg, but after three months infants appeared to have found an adult-like stable coordinative…

Offers a description by a first-grade teacher of changes in the literacy attitudes and abilities of two boys at risk for school failures prior to successful literacy experiences in her classroom. (SR)

Children and adults were interviewed about moral judgment twice during a two-year interval. Results indicated that stage transition in moral reasoning was predicted by more reasoning above than below a modal stage. Results also indicated that individuals progressed through a cyclical pattern of stage transitions. (BC)

Seven stages in the development of faith are examined from a constructivist-developmental approach. A table depicts structural aspects of faith development by stage. (BB)

Presents an annotated bibliography on religious development that covers the areas of psychology and religion, measurement of religiousness, religious development during the life cycle, religious experiences, conversion, religion and morality, and images of God. (Author/BB)

Proposes a perspective for understanding the development of adolescent sexual intimacy. Describes a "transitional stage" in which adolescents, driven by developmental needs, experiment with sexual behaviors, and which results in the ability to achieve "relational" sexual intimacy when completed. Discusses problems and implications for counseling…

This study, with 30 language learning-disabled, reading-disabled, and normal primary school children, found that clause structure complexity, fluency, and grammatical and phonemic accuracy tended to be highest when children were discussing absent referents, providing explanations and stories, and giving unshared information. These effects were…

The assumptions of influential adult development models are being questioned: that growth is linear, higher developmental levels are better, all adults want to change and grow, and models based on males apply equally to females. The extent to which knowledge of psychological development is indispensable to practice continues to be debated. (SK)

Assessed Type A behavior pattern for 122 teenagers who had heart rate measured during rest and presentation of mental arithmetic stressor under timed and competitive conditions. Examined whether sex, age, task performance, and behavior pattern predicted heart rate reactivitiy. Found no significant main effects for behavior pattern, sex, or age;…

Over a 2-year period, observed the play of 6 mentally handicapped children who were 2-3 years old at the start of the study. Measured children's behaviors that related to displacing objects, finding and locating objects, and using language. Found that the sequence of the children's development of object knowledge and early language was similar to…

Investigates whether the prelexical phonological route develops prior to the visual route while learning to read Greek. Finds reading accuracy unaffected by the main psycholinguistic properties of words; chronological age did not influence long-term reading acquisition; and beginning readers used phonological information in reading but started to…

Presents 2 studies that examined theory of mind: first studied false belief in 3-4 year olds, and second studied second order attribution in 4 year olds. Results indicated that, when the test situation is realistic and actively involves the children, understanding of ignorance and false belief is seen at a younger age than when the traditional…

This study examined above-grade-level abstract reasoning abilities of 150 students (grades 2-6). Understanding of abstract concepts varied by age for only four of eight subscales or concepts: probability, proportion, momentum, and frames of reference. Performance varied widely within age level for the understanding of volume, correlation,…

Discusses the development of phonological awareness skills in early childhood and assessment of phonological awareness abilities. Explains rhyming tests, blending tests, and segmentation tests, along with specific intervention tasks and intervention materials and programs. Urges explicit training in phonological awareness for all children. (CR)