Early exploratory behaviors have been proposed to facilitate children's learning, impacting motor, cognitive, language, and social development. This study related the performance of behaviors used to explore oneself to behaviors used to explore objects, and then related both types of exploratory behaviors to motor, language, and cognitive measures…

On belief-desire reasoning tasks, children first pass tasks involving true belief before those involving false belief, and tasks involving positive desire before those involving negative desire. The current study examined belief-desire reasoning in participants old enough to pass all such tasks. Eighty-three 6- to 11-year-olds and 20 adult…

Examined evidence for transitions in first and second graders' analogical reasoning, over a six-month period. Found strong evidence for bimodality in test performance frequency distributions and weaker evidence for inaccessibility in frequency distributions. Transitional subjects showed a temporary increase of inconsistent solution behavior and…

Two experiments used a formal model of developmental discontinuity derived from catastrophe theory to test whether the transition from Rule I to Rule II on the balance scale task proceeds discontinuously from ages 6 to 10, focusing on five catastrophe flags. Found that bimodality, inaccessible region, hysteresis, and sudden jump were clearly…

As the first title in the new series, "New Directions in Communication Disorders Research: Integrative Approaches", this volume discusses a unique phenomenon in cognitive science, single-word reading, which is an essential element in successful reading competence. Single-word reading is an interdisciplinary area of research that incorporates…

While many contemporary developmental theorists have avoided taking a stand on the controversial relationship between learning and development, this paper is based on the belief that the notion of "bandwidth of competence," or L. S. Vygotsky's "zone of proximal development," provides a useful framework for considering this…

This paper argues for the integration of traditional concepts of developmental domains to provide more unified early intervention programing for young children with disabilities and their families. Research is reviewed which supports an integrated approach to child development. (DB)

Maintains that a major theme in Lev Vygotsky's later research was concept formation or conceptual development in child development. States that Vygotsky argued that the acquisition of mature academic concepts forms the crowning achievement of adolescence. Argues that the view raises a number of criticisms. (CFR)

This book reviews the contemporary state of knowledge on developmental transitions between 5 and 7 years. Contributions are: (1) "Interpreting Developmental Transitions" (Arnold Sameroff; Marshall Haith); (2) "The Child's Entry into the 'Age of Reason'" (Sheldon White); (3) "Is There a Neural Basis for Cognitive…

Two guides for practitioners, one concerning early childhood curriculum and the other concerning the early childhood identification process are presented in this document. The curriculum guide, which constitutes the bulk of this package, approaches early childhood curriculum issues from the developmental perspective. The first section of the guide…

Expanded from its previous edition to include ages 13 and 14, this book provides teachers and parents with a quick reference on important childhood developmental issues, explaining what children should be learning and doing in the classroom at each developmental stage. The book begins by discussing how developmental issues can affect…