This article reviews recent research on children's knowledge and acquisition of derivational morphology across studies of listening, speaking, reading, and spelling. The paper concludes that this dimension of language organization deserves more attention than it now receives in language instruction. (Author/JDD)

Twenty-nine prelingually, profoundly deaf adolescents were interviewed to assess their metacognitive knowledge about school-related reading. Students' schemata for school-related reading were largely skill based and passive and lacked mature metacognitive knowledge that would enable students to gain the most from their reading instruction and…

A survey of 85 parents of offspring (ages 14-25) with handicaps examined parental involvement in programs facilitating transition from school to adult life. The survey found that a significant number of parents were unaware of any transition program for their offspring, although virtually all parents desired involvement of some kind. (Author/JDD)

This article reviews the literature on the inadequacy and adequacy of parenting by persons with mental retardation and offers new foci for research. It examines issues in predicting parenting inadequacy based on parental knowledge and skill, health care and safety, decision making, interaction, and child outcomes in terms of cognitive delay and…

A nationwide survey of teachers (568 responses) from 40 school districts found that, although the majority of teachers confront child abuse among their students, they are provided insufficient education on how to address it. Other findings concerned teachers' reporting behavior, barriers to reporting, child assault prevention programs, and…

A model of parental involvement in the prevention of teenage drinking and driving is presented. It is suggested that parents' effectiveness at intervening to prevent teenagers from drinking and driving depends on their stage of involvement. Parents are often unaware of the true extent and nature of teen drinking. (SLD)

Eighty deaf college students listed the current rumors they knew and number of people to whom they typically transmit rumors. These two variables were then related to anxiety level, extraversion, gender, preferred mode of communication, and type of high school attended. More anxious students knew more rumors than did less anxious deaf students.…

Compared responses of inner-city adolescent girls to measures of knowledge, beliefs and risk factors for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) obtained in 1986 (n=205) and in 1989 (n=510). Between 1986 and 1989, number of sexual partners increased whereas concern about AIDS decreased. Those adolescents with most sexual partners also had most…

Schematic knowledge was assessed by asking 195 ninth and tenth graders to classify area-of-rectangle problems in terms of whether the text provided insufficient, sufficient, or irrelevant information for solution. The hierarchical ordering of templates for the area of a rectangle is demonstrated, and implications for mathematics instruction are…

Offers information on the sexual abuse of children and its prevention. Describes a study to validate an instrument to assess children's acquisition of knowledge about personal security and the prevention of sexual abuse as presented in the Child Abuse Research and Education (CARE) program in Montreal, Quebec. Confirms the validity of the program…

This article describes the development and implementation of an innovative program of information centers in Israel that is designed to identify newly blind persons and to give them first-hand information about available services, as well as to stimulate an awareness of rehabilitation services among medical personnel. (Author/DB)

A study of 1,663 teachers of students with blindness or visual impairments addressed their perceived competence in reading and teaching braille, attitudes toward braille, and preservice training in braille. Most teachers were confident in their braille abilities, strongly supported use of braille with students, and were dissatisfied with their own…

Possible interpretive arguments for licensure and certification test scores are examined, and evidence to support each type of argument is analyzed. Particular attention is given to a competency-based argument that involves a sequence of inferences from test scores to statements about competence and then to conclusions about expected performance.…

Outlines how contemporary reading theorists conceptualize reading fluency, discussing why it is a good indicator of reading process efficiency. Suggests ways to foster development of reading fluency. Children must acquire the automatic word and phrase processing that enables fluent reading and lets them allocate cognitive capacity to…

Reviews of multivocal literature are assessments of what can be learned from a given body of literature and assessments of the claims on which that knowledge is based. Methodological rigor is less likely to be a problem in such reviews than is lack of independent judgment. (SLD)