Provides evidence for developmental changes in the composition of the lexicon, reflecting a shift in emphasis from reference, to predication, to grammar. Findings show that the study of qualitative variation in lexical style is confounded by quantitative variation in rate of lexical development. Tables are appended. (Contains 42 references.) (JP)

In 2 studies, subjects between 7 and 16 years of age indicated predictions for the water level in a tilted container or the position of a plumb line. Found that sex differences were evident at all ages; task performance improved with age according to a discrete stage process; and task performance was determined by field effects and rule strategy.…

A case study describes the use of a facilitating phonetic context to decrease the occurrence of an unusual form of gliding. The process of differentiating the phones /l/ and /j/ involved systematic changes differing from the expected route of development. Results support the value of a key word approach in treating recalcitrant phonological…

Describes the essential factors of developmental changes in argumentative writing behavior of children between the ages of 10 and 16, in particular on 4 tasks: an argumentative writing task, a textuality task, an argumentative script inference task, and an argumentativity judgment task. (SR)

Analyzes the nature and growth of students' algebraic knowledge and thinking from an epistemological perspective supported by historical observations. Focuses on two crucial transitions: from the purely operational algebra to the structural algebra of a fixed value of an unknown and then to the functional algebra of a variable. (Contains 58…

Discusses the concept of school readiness and the process of making the transition to school. Reviews early signs of successful school transitions and identifies some fundamentals of young children's early learning environments. Almost all children are eager to learn and show remarkable progress when they are in school environments that tailor…

The results of four experiments refute the idea that children rely heavily on their knowledge of letter names when they begin trying to spell words. Although kindergartners and first graders sometimes spelled the nonword /var/ as "vr," they were less likely to spell the nonword /ves/ as "vs" or the nonword /tib/ as…

Applies a suicide trajectory model to rates of suicide and attempted suicide to explain commonalities and age differences in risk factors affecting suicide across the life span. (HTH)

Children in grades three through five and adults performed a number-matching task. Found that changes in the strength of arithmetic connections occurred with development and accounted for individual differences among adults. Individual differences among children were related to changes in the strength of number-line connections. (Author/GLR)

The constructivist hypothesis that the acquisition of domain-specific conceptual knowledge (declarative) requires the use of general procedural knowledge was tested. Students (n=314) were classified as reflective, transitional, or intuitive thinkers and presented with four concept-acquisition tasks. Skill in hypothetico-deductive reasoning…

Examined study time and recall on the part of learning-disabled and nondisabled children of five ages. Children performed a task requiring recall of digits that were presented at the child's own rate. Recall and study time increased with age and were higher in nondisabled children. (SH)

The concept of metacognition is discussed, with a review of attempts at definition. A. Brown's (1987) four historical roots of metacognition--verbal reports as data, executive control, self-regulation, and other-regulation--are summarized. Influence from the developmental theory of L. S. Vygotsky (1978) may result in a clearer conceptualization of…

The communicative behaviors of 6 girls with Rett syndrome (ages 2-13) were evaluated. Findings indicated that all subjects were at a preintentional level of communication, which was consistent with their profound intellectual disability and their lack of demonstration of "means-end" behavior beyond Piagetian Sensorimotor Stage III.…

The development of object play was longitudinally examined in 40 children ages 11 to 27 months. The types of object play observed in nondisabled children were observed in children with disabilities at comparable developmental ages. Duration and frequency of active involvement with objects were greater for nondisabled children than for children…

Ten children (ages 5-6) and 10 adults participated in discrimination and selective adaptation speech perception tasks using a synthetic consonant-vowel continuum. Results support hypotheses of sensory processing differences in younger, normally developing children compared with adults and show that such abilities appear to be related to speech…