Fifteen-year olds have the highest crime rate of any age group in Great Britain. A formal initiation of adolescents into adulthood, such as that of Australian Aboriginal society, may be what is lacking in contemporary society. Examines functions of the Aboriginal initiation as a basis for modern initiations that include challenge, responsibility,…

Examines preschool children's ability for advance planning and mishap prevention or remediation related to familiar events. Indicates that children three to five years old appear to use general event knowledge in constructing verbal plans. However, developmental differences in the quality of plans suggests that the ability of using general…

Data on 52 individuals with and 62 individuals without autism were analyzed to assess developmental aspects of the DSM-III-R (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual III, Revised) diagnostic system. Findings indicate that DSM-III-R criteria are more developmentally oriented and more behaviorally specific than previous criteria, but the diagnostic…

Summarizes researchers' beliefs about cognitive development. Topics include (1) the child as constructive thinker; (2) new research methods; (3) the characterization of children's cognitive development; (4) estimates of children's competence; (5) stages of development; (6) interrelations among developmental skills; (7) mechanisms of development;…

An auditory rhyme detection task was employed to examine orthographic code development in 27 reading-disabled and 27 normally achieving children (ages 7-11 years). It was concluded that children with a reading disability have a lessened ability to automatically access and make available stored lexical information relating to orthography.…

Maintains that most of the claims made by Morrison, Morrison, and Keating do not undermine the data analysis and conclusion of a study reported in a 1988 paper. Discusses (1) evidence concerning a common rate of developmental change; (2) functions that characterize developmental stages; and (3) procedures for estimating parameters. (LB)

Argues for integrating heterodox economic theory into mainstream economics education. Uses the example of an integrated economic program at Dickinson College (Pennsylvania) to illustrate benefits. Describes components and methodology of the program. Sees positive outcomes for students, faculty, and the discipline. Includes course description,…

Adolescents and young adults (n=120) were assessed on their use and understanding of concordant and discordant adverbial conjuncts. Results demonstrated an increasing ability with age to use and understand these words in the written mode, with mastery in usage trailing understanding. Concordant and discordant conjuncts were equally difficult.…

Forty-six Spanish-speaking children ages four, six, or eight years viewed a short silent film and told what happened in the film. The stories of older children included more narrative actions, more mental state/goal causes, more three-clause causal sequences, and a lower proportion of unrelated statements than those of younger children.…

Discusses a longitudinal study of children's evolving concept of "word." Concludes that tacit awareness of word in spoken and written language precedes explicit awareness. Finds that children in different developmental stages perform differently on reading tasks. Suggests that development of the concept of word relates to experience with writing…

A theory of normal and delayed development of language is presented, arguing that linguistic capacity develops in gradual, sequential, critically timed phases; children with slowly developing brains have delays in storing utterances; a critical period for activation of experience-dependent grammatical mechanisms declines without optimal result;…

Responds in a question-and-answer format to parents' concerns about their child's transition into kindergarten. Responses include how the program will meet the needs of children who already have preschool experience and how the program will handle the "academic domains" of reading and math. (HTH)

This case report provides a phonological investigation of the speech of an eight-year-old autistic boy. Speech was elicited using delayed imitation, object naming, and a connected speech sample. The subject's use of phonological processes resulted in extensive homonymy which contributed to severely reduced intelligibility. Both typical and unusual…

Children (ages 6-7 and ages 8-9) and adults participated in real-word and nonword lexical decision tasks and an auditory-vocal reaction time task. Response times on all tasks decreased with age. However, age-related differences on the real-word lexical decision task disappeared when differences in auditory-vocal reaction times were taken into…

Describes a teacher's experience with infants at a Montessori program. Discusses observations made in the areas of rapid change in development, crying as communication, the thumb-sucking versus pacifier dilemma, and intellectual growth. Discusses factors critical to quality infant care and how infants can teach us. (HTH)