An ex post facto study of 1,486 education majors reported that 53.5% of participants were at the formal operational stage and 43.9% were at the transitional stage. Students with more science courses in grades 10-12 had significantly higher scores for cognitive development and science process skills. No significant differences were found in…

Nonretarded (NR) and educable mentally retarded (EMR) 6- to 19-year-old children in Istanbul, Turkey, completed conservation tasks. Found a similarity in the developmental progression of conservation concepts between the two groups and between these groups and groups of NR and EMR children in England as reported in previous studies. (BC)

Presents interview with Dr. Violent Oaklander, experienced child therapist and author of "Windows to Our Children: A Gestalt Therapy with Children and Adolescents." Discusses critical components of successful therapy with children. Explains how developmental stage of child affects therapeutic process, and provides specific examples of working with…

A study of 16 children (ages 4 and 7 years) and 8 young adults used an "Optotrak" system to study patterning and stability of speech movements in developing speech motor systems. Results indicate that nonlinear and nonuniform changes occur in components of the speech motor system during development. (Author/CR)

Research on education-to-work transitions perpetuates a predictable, linear pathways model that is no longer appropriate. Alternative approaches include vocational focus, occupational focus, contextual focus, altered patterns, and mixed patterns. Using a different framework necessitates changes in data gathering and analysis. (SK)

Too often, high school is a place that stifles creativity while fostering competition, conformity, intolerance, and the mean-spiritedness reflected in society. Students do not feel welcome and are caught in a developmental holding pattern. Proactive community-building efforts in Wisconsin and Colorado high schools are described. (MLH)

Discusses the nature of speech perceptual capacities that infants possess, changes that come about with increased exposure to language, how growing understanding of native-language sound organization is used in developing word-segmentation strategies, and how developing word-segmentation abilities may facilitate discovery of grammatical…

Rites of passage are a normal part of a young person's growth from adolescence to adulthood and many are marked with the use and abuse of alcohol. Describes three phases of the rites of passage (separation, liminal, and reincorporation) that youth undergo. Suggests that educators and advisors help them create meaningful rituals without resorting…

Empirically validated the Efficacy-Based Change Model as a theoretical model of change. Teachers completed the Stages of Concern Questionnaire, the Educational Innovations Inventory, and a confidence-rating scale. Results supported the model's general constructs--stages of concern related to change, self-beliefs, and attributional processes. The…

Describes the use of unit blocks with young children in early childhood education (ECE) settings to expand all areas of the curriculum. Discusses the origin of blocks in ECE programs, presents developmental stages of block play, describes children's building styles, and makes recommendations for getting started in block play for children of…

Examined the use of protoimperative and protodeclarative pointing gestures in three children with autism (ages 26 to 53 months) at 5-month intervals over two years. Imperative or instrumental functions emerged early in all three; declarative or experience sharing functions emerged later in two subjects and not at all in the third. (DB)

Addresses two broad issues: the current understanding of spelling development and how this understanding fits within a broader model of literacy development; and the implications of the developmental model for spelling instruction and word study. Suggests that it is essential that instruction balance authentic reading and writing with purposeful…

A study investigated the motor development in 99 Australian children (ages 10-16) with Down syndrome. Results showed that the children's motor proficiency continued to progress into adolescence and that there were a wide range of inter- and intra-individual differences in their skill levels and rates of progress. (Author/CR)

Introduces this special journal issue by describing what developmental approaches are and how they can be applied to children with disabilities. Gives a short preview of the articles in the issue and raises future challenges for developmental research and intervention with young children with disabilities. (JS)

Three experiments explored change toward more flexible reliance on combinations of spatial and nonspatial landmark information to reorient oneself. Identified 5-7 years as age for this developmental change. Results suggest that language production skills play a causal role in allowing humans to construct novel representations rapidly, which can…