Four studies with infants and preschool-age children examined various pattern perception tasks considered to be related to the perceptual basis of the development of reading skills. Study 1 used 28 neonates to test the hypothesis that supplemental stimulation (rocking, patting, holding) has measurable effects upon attention to visual patterns.…

The assumption that the learning of letter names in their proper sequence is a prerequisite for literacy can be questioned. There is disagreement over the value of early letter-name training. It is variously said to aid in letter or word discrimination, to aid in attaching sounds to letters, and to interfere with both of these tasks. An analysis…

This inventory is designed to assess the degree to which adults who are illiterate possess some of the more commonly acknowledged requisites to learning to read. Instructions for administering the inventory are provided in enough detail to insure a reasonably accurate assessment of visual discrimination and select cognitive abilities. The…

In the Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC) Beginning Reading Program, vowels are color-coded so that different spellings, representing a single vowel sound, maintain some feature in common. Such color-coding imposes a structure which effectively reduces the uncertainty in associating visually different stimuli with a similar oral…

A stratified random sample of 70 pupils was selected from 261 children from three elementary schools, who had completed one year of formal reading instruction. To investigate whether visual discrimination or visual-motor development was more closely related to reading achievement, tests of reading achievement, intelligence, visual-motor abilities,…

General intelligence may set structural feature limitations on three aspects of selective attention: direction, adjustability, and breadth. Data, theory, and methods bearing on this hypothesis were reviewed from the domain of visual discrimination learning. (Author/BW)

Boys (N=55) aged 8-11, categorized as impulsives by the Matching Familiar Figures test, participated in a study comparing the effects of three different techniques, designed to change an impulsive cognitive style on response accuracy and response latency. Subjects trained to increase response latency did show a significant increase in latency.…

Examines whether three-month-old infants can detect variations within the single expression category of smiling and whether individual differences in infants' sensitivities are related to identifiable mother or infant behaviors. (HOD)

Techniques that teachers can use to help art students to make an educated guess or to estimate an approximate solution while solving a visual problem that has no single correct answer are discussed. (RM)

Through a cooperative approach, four area school districts and a State university solved the budgetary problem of obtaining objective proof of the need for programs for children with learning disabilities. (Author)

Explains the use of a metronome to pace phrase reading, rate development, and eye-hand coordination exercises, and to time a sight vocabulary game. Bibliography. (MD)

Reviews research on various physical factors related to learning and reading disabilities, also providing a 58-item bibliography. (VJ)

An investigation to account for age changes in the accuracy with which children match auditory to visual series. (Author)