This research tests whether analogical learning is present before language comprehension. Three-month-old infants were habituated to a series of analogous pairs, instantiating either the "same" relation (e.g., AA, BB, etc.) or the "different" relation (e.g., AB, CD, etc.), and then tested with further exemplars of the…

Two studies examined executive functions in children with autism. Results indicated that subjects performed like normally developing children when either no arbitrary and novel rules were involved or the output was verbal. Results support the hypothesis that these children are challenged by executive tasks because they are unlikely to encode rules…

The study of 813 learning disabled children (ages 6-11) with test-retest data (after three years) on 224 children found the children to suffer a progressive deterioration in verbal ability whereas their nonverbal ability showed an increase in the earlier years, leveling off thereafter. (Author/DB)

This study used a well-normed task of face recognition with 102 young children with autism, pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) not otherwise specified, and non-PDD disorders (mental retardation and language disorders) matched for chronological age and either verbal or nonverbal mental age. Autistic subjects exhibited pronounced deficits in…

Tests the developmental memory lag hypothesis with 22 learning disabled boys on two- and three-dimensional nonverbal tasks. Finds age-equivalent recall patterns similar to those of normal children and consistent age-related differences in nonverbal recall, thereby negating the developmental lag hypothesis. (RL)

Ten language impaired and 10 language normal children, aged 3-5), were asked to solve verbal and nonverbal problems requiring color and size judgments. There were no group differences on the verbal tasks, but the language impaired children performed less well on the nonverbal tasks especially on problems dealing with size. (Author/DB)

This article reports 2 experiments examining the changing role of iconicity in symbol learning and its implications regarding the mechanisms supporting symbol-to-referent mapping. Experiment 1 compared 18- and 26-month-olds' mapping of iconic gestures (e.g., hopping gesture for a rabbit) vs. arbitrary gestures (e.g., dropping motion for a rabbit).…

This study addressed the extent to which performance on selected verbal and nonverbal measures contributed to the prediction of inflection learning with 20 normal boys (ages 4 to 5). Results suggested that inflection learning may be tied more to other language abilities than to nonverbal cognitive skills in normally developing boys. (DB)

Brain research indicates that sensory-motor experiences during childrens' preschool and early school years may be the foundation for later language development. (MLF)

Proposes that offering students activities that exercise right-brain functions (nonverbal, nonrational, spatial, and intuitive) helps students become more fully developed human beings and better writers. (RL)

The study examined whether the development of receptive language lags behind nonverbal cognitive development in school age persons with mental retardation. Results indicated that the relationship between receptive language and mental age varied across mental age levels, linguistic forms, and individuals at the same mental age for listeners with…