The introduction to the special section introduces three papers and two commentaries originally presented at the 1989 Project Directors' Meeting of the Federal Office of Special Education Programs panel discussion focusing on the importance of individual differences and critical methodological and conceptual considerations. (DB)

4MAT is an eight-step instructional cycle that capitalizes on individual learning styles and brain dominance processing preferences. The four major learners (imaginative, analytic, common sense, and dynamic) can use 4MAT to engage their whole brain. Learners use their most comfortable style while being challenged to function in less comfortable…

Critiques problem-focused perspective, different diagnostic approaches, and objectivity-subjectivity dilemma as they apply to respecting client uniqueness. Social work practice is cast within reflective model advanced by Schon. Argues that this approach bolsters social work practitioner's ability to incorporate uniqueness in work with clients by…

Presents a conception of word recognition involving both phonological and orthographic processes. Discusses three explanations about the origin of orthographic processes in word recognition, and suggests that automatic orthographic word recognition is directly dependent on children's amount of reading practice in an out-of-school setting.…

Argues that the most serious barrier to increasing understanding of students' learning lies in the neglect of individual differences and the overreliance on categorizing students into groups. Looking carefully at how even one student learns is often quite revealing, and most educators have an opportunity to observe a wide variety of learners.…

Finds that favorable attitudes toward innovation and change, computer self-efficacy, and computer experience directly and positively influence e-mail use; and that attitudes toward innovation and change influence (moderate) the relationship between social context and e-mail selection and use. Points to the need for a more comprehensive and complex…

Questions the validity of current reductionist assumptions concerning learning differences and proposes a new science of life based on dynamic, transforming, hierarchically organized systems of energy. This view of cognition is related to Piaget's insights, which are extended to include a view of learning differences consistent with these…

This study examined phonological changes in the conversational speech of children between the ages of 2 and 3 years. Phonological analysis of conversational samples obtained from the same children at three-month intervals showed significant differences among children in rates of final consonant deletion, cluster reduction, vowelization, and…

Five experiments tested four-month-old infants' ability to recognize degraded visual targets as a function of individual differences in fixation duration. Found that short-looking infants were able to recognize degraded forms in both vertex (top or highest point)-absent and vertex-present conditions, but the vertex-absent discrimination was more…

Two experiments examined age differences in children's dual-task performance. Findings indicated that when capacity for single-task performance was controlled, age differences between second and fifth graders did not exist in performance of dual-tasks of equal priority. When tasks had different priorities, only fifth graders could differentially…

Examined individual differences in social cognition among 128 urban preschoolers. Found that individual differences in understanding of false-belief and emotion were associated with differences in language ability, parental occupation, and mothers' education. Variance in family background only contributed uniquely to false-belief understanding.…

Maintains that the findings of the Utrecht Study of Adolescent Development are consistent with theoretical expectations and previous research outcomes. Uses the Utrecht data to analyze hypothesized age differences in patterns of intraindividual identity status change. Discusses possible explanations for the partial failure to confirm this aspect…

Studied the associations between scores on a test of general mental ability and reaction time, measured with a "Hick"-style device, using a sample of 900 adults (aged 56 years) in Scotland. Results agree with literature reviews suggesting that reaction times and their variabilities are stronger correlates of mental test scores than are…

Examines the possible and specific relationships between first language (L1) acquisition and second language (L2) acquisition to show that a number of assumptions warrant closer inspection. Explores problems in distinguishing L1 from L2 acquisition from three different perspectives: individual language learner histories, the data, and the…

The last quarter of a century has seen significant progress in the identification and assessment of individual difference variables and an increasing awareness of the importance of seeing variables in the context of others, both in their effect on one another and their interactive effect on educational performance. Several challenges must now be…