We investigate the effects of age-related factors and formal instruction on the development of reading-related skills in children aged 4 and 7 years. Age effects were determined by comparing two groups of children at the onset of formal schooling; one aged 7 (later-schooled) and one aged 4 (earlier-schooled). Schooling effects were measured by…

Critiques an experiment by M. Arlin, M. Scott, and J. Webster (see EJ 206 153) in which their pictures as an aid to learning hypothesis contrasts with the focal attention hypothesis supported by research by H. Singer, S. J. Samuels, and J. Spiroff (see EJ 105 648). (MKM)

Seven visually handicapped adolescents, literate in braille but with little or no visual reading experience, were trained in letter and word recognition by closed circuit television for two weeks. All subjects increased their visual reading speed; in some cases, visual reading speed surpassed that of braille. (SJL)

Laments the lack of successful integration of current technological advances into American classrooms. Suggests that schools need to acknowledge the role, form, and function of the mass media in society, and that teachers should develop teaching strategies to help students cope with the iconic world in which they live. (SKC)