Parents (N=100) of children (ages 9 to 13) with or without learning disabilities (LD) responded to a retrospective developmental survey. Parents reported that the children with LD had significantly more neurodevelopmental problems or delays across domains (e.g., language, motor, attention, social behavior) than normal achievers. A pattern of…

Discusses research related to identifying early predictors of school success or intelligence. Reports on a study that suggested correlations exist between how babies process information (visual attentiveness) in the first six months of life and the child's performance on intelligence tests in school. (ML)

Explores whether transactional/interactional, environmental, or developmental status models best represent growth from infancy to early childhood. Attempts to identify features of the social environment important for specific developmental outcomes. Observations of interactions between 40 mothers and their three-month-old infants were used to…

This study used longitudinal productivity criteria to establish the phonetic skill of 20 children (followed from 9 to 16 months). The number of specific consonants produced consistently across the months predicted referential lexical use at 16 months. Prior use of at least two supraglottal consonants characterized the children achieving…

Free play and elicited language samples were obtained monthly for 10 to 12 months from five late talking children. Analysis indicated that three of the children resolved their late onset of speech by 33 to 35 months of age. Both quantitative factors (e.g., limited phonetic inventory) and qualitative factors (e.g., atypical error patterns) were…

This study used survival analysis to overcome problems of principled generalization and individual variability in analysis of the conversational speech of 24 children with speech delay recorded over two years. The derived normalization probabilities were lagged according to the strong delay hypothesis and results converged with previous normative…

Probable ages of normalization were calculated for 24 children with speech delay, using Kaplan-Meier analysis. Formulas are provided that permit calculation of the likelihood that individual children will normalize by a given age. Analysis revealed two different paths to normalization with children following one of the paths likely to retain…

Comparison of 72 middle and 72 low socioeconomic status (SES) families of infants with developmental disabilities, on measures of maternal stress and infant development, found that regression analyses predicted 81% of the variance in later developmental level from initial Bayley Mental Age, initial Mental Development Index, SES, initial maternal…

The primary purpose of this study was to examine uneven early development in premature infants. A multiple regression analysis was performed in which birth weight, length of gestation, length of assisted feeding, and length of ventilation were used to predict the descrepancy between a child's Psychomotor and Mental Scale scores on the Bayley…

Telephone interviews were conducted with parents of 1,601 children to investigate the utility of a statewide (Ohio), first-step screening procedure called Developmental Profile II. With developmental delay specified as the outcome variable, six independent variables representing environmental and biological determinants were identified.…

A follow-up study of 268 adolescents was conducted to determine predictors of disabilities. Parental traits were more accurate predictors of adolescent status than the child's own behavior from birth to 3 years, whereas child-centered skills assessed at 4 and 7 years of age were better predictors than familial factors. (Author/JDD)

The Carolina Longitudinal Learning Disabilities Project identified 42 first- and second-grade students with learning disabilities (LD) and compared their development over 5 years with that of randomly selected peers. Different variables were predictive for the two groups. Teacher perceptions of intelligence, measured intelligence quotient, grade…

A cumulative risk model was used to examine the relationship among failure-to-thrive (FIT), maltreatment, and four aspects of children's development (cognitive performance, adaptive functioning at school, classroom behavior, and behavior at home) in 193 6-year-olds. Risk status was negatively associated with the four developmental outcomes.…

With over half the nation's infants and toddlers in regular, non-parental child care, the quality of that care is a priority concern for policymakers. Many studies show that high-quality child care supports the positive social, emotional, and cognitive development of young children. The research summarized in this policy brief identifies factors…

This study uses data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 (ECLS-K) to examine how children's skills and knowledge at kindergarten entry predict their achievement in later grades. It extends previous research by examining longer-term achievement outcomes, namely test scores at the end of fifth grade, and…