This study investigated whether attention to either physical or social entities is linked to autistic development. Comparison of 15 children with autism with normally developing children matched for mental age found a strong correlation between joint attention and set-shifting in typically developing children but not those with autism. (Contains…

The Goldman Lock Box provides two measures of self-regulation, planfulness and maintenance of goal-directed behavior. Lock Box performance of 25 children with down syndrome was compared with that of 43 typically developing children, matched for mental age. Children in both groups showed similar levels of competence, planfulness and…

This paper is concerned with the unfolding of human marks, beginning with scribbling, and their contribution to developing literacy. The paper argues that children's scribbles reveal a neural substrate destined for marks and influence that substrate significantly, cuing what is distinctly human in linguistic behavior and consciousness, or symbolic…

Evaluation of social-cognitive skills in 23 young children with autism or other developmental delays found tests involving others' attention were more difficult for children with autism than tests involving others' behavior. However, the typical developmental pattern of first sharing, then following, and then directing attention or behavior was…

Describes two experiments that examined the effects of quantity and depth of processing on elementary school children's time perception. (HOD)

Observes 75 first- and third-grade children in their classroom mathematics seatwork to test assumptions drawn from Vygotsky's theory about the development of private speech and its relationship to task performance, attention, and motor behaviors accompanying task orientation. (HOD)

Children with mental retardation are particularly prone to failure on relational tasks such as oddity and match-to-sample, suggesting a differential sensitivity to relational information. This paper reports on several studies in which characteristics of stimulus arrays were enhanced. Results demonstrated the theoretical and practical significance…