The "Research in Practice Series" is a practical, easy-to-read resource, offering effective new approaches for those challenging issues which arise in the care and education of young children. Early Childhood Australia's "Research in Practice Series" is an essential resource for those involved in the early childhood field.…

Two of the greatest problems of research on affective factors, and in particular, research on beliefs, is "what" and "how" we observe. The first difficulty is due to the lack of a clear terminology; but even once it has been clearly decided what to observe, it is not easy to put this into practice. This report describes from a…

This essay examines Presidential rhetoric and popular culture practices in light of the stages of grief enumerated by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. The authors find a consistent retrenchment of grief into the anger phase, where the pain of losing national invulnerability is transferred to externalized aggression. Reconciliation is suggested by means of…

This book uses an analogy of "The Wizard of Oz" to offer information about cognitive research, sharing simple tactics for implementing these ideas in the classroom. The book discusses expert findings about brain growth, structure, and functions to help teachers and administrators foster a love of learning in all students. Key features…

Noting that low-income children are at risk for early school difficulties and that social and emotional competencies are hypothesized to be crucial for early school success, this study used naturalistic observations to provide descriptive information about low-income children's emotional and social competence in school settings. The specific goals…

This booklet reports the findings of a study that focused on the well-being and lifestyle of 479 families of children (ages 2-17) with Down syndrome (DS) in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland. A comparative study of families of typical children in the Nordic countries was also done. The results of the study indicate that bringing up a…

This booklet provides short treatment options for educators, counselors and others on grief issues that today's youth often face. Children may encounter the trauma of fatal illness, accidents, suicide, homicide, and terrorism that they experience either directly or indirectly through the media. They can also face abuse, divorce, multiple moves,…

These four newsletters focus on issues related to adult basic education and the challenges faced when teaching adult learners. The first issue looks at the characteristics of learning disabilities, providing information to help teachers determine whether a learner has a learning disability and who might be appropriately referred for testing. The…

Recognizing that what, how, and how much children learn in school depends in large part on the social and emotional competence they developed as preschoolers, this monograph examines the current state of research regarding the social and emotional risk and protective factors that predict early school problems or success. The first part of the…

This study explored the role of perinatal vulnerability (PV) in mothers and infants in relationship to the development of interaffectivity and attachment, and the relationship between interaffectivity and attachment. Participating were a low-risk sample of 74 middle-class mother/first-born infant dyads who had participated as volunteers in a…

The integration of animal-assisted therapy into clinical psychology is a growing phenomenon. These "co-therapists" may be of assistance to counselors when working with withdrawn and non-communicative counselees. The presence of an animal has been found to lower anxiety and motivate the counselee's participation in therapy.…

This paper focuses on the reasons why media violence research is often misunderstood. First, it explains the methodological limitations of studying media violence and argues that these limitations are similar to those accepted in medical research. Second, it explores the role of emotional response that media violence can produce and possible…

Psychological factors are analyzed that might explain why scholars and teachers do not intellectually confront the possibility of nuclear annihilation. Teachers are urged to struggle toward facing that possible reality as a prelude to action. (PP)

Assesses relationships between child vulnerability to stress, birth order, and stage of family development. Identified four stages of family structure. Results showed vulnerability of first-borns and last-borns shifted across stages in a complementary fashion. Interpreted results in terms of a linkage between emotional symptoms and family…

Studied social workers' perceptions of group dimensions that had negative effects on members. Found that group leaders viewed group composition as a major source of harmful interaction while members and observers saw group norms as a more frequent cause of negative effects. (Author/JAC)