This book is a guide to understanding the development and needs of the child from 0 to 5. There are three sections: General principles of learning and development; infant development and ways of caring for infants; and the preschool child, which concerns the young child's development and proposes teaching and developmental activities. An appendix…

This study links the Piagetian categories of classification with an analysis of the structure of riddles. Subjects were 623 elementary and junior high school students from small towns in Northwestern Ohio. The children provided experimenters with riddles and each riddle was scrutinized for possible inclusion in the following categories: (1)…

This paper analytically reviews the literature on cognitive development, particularly as it relates to the acquisition of language. Of primary concern are the basic cognitive processes of perceptual groupings, concepts and relations, and memory. Discussed are the acquisition of language, some aspects of the nature of language and language…

This profile of significant research findings comprises a framework for analyzing and synthesizing information on the cognitive development of children. The variables used to systematize the literature search were: perception; motor development; language; conceptual activity; and learning, memory, and problem solving. The findings are arranged…

Two experiments were performed to evaluate the effects of modeling and small group activities on language and cognitive change in samples of young, low socio-economic status (SES) children. Experiment I involved children attending two preschool centers for aid to dependent children. Experiment II took place in the context of a research preschool…

The author reviews findings in perception, cognition, psycholinguistics, and motivation, concentrating on the development of these processes in the nonreading and beginning reading child rather than in the mature processes of a skilled reader. She offers the following conclusions: (1) Research in perception suggests that there are developmental…

In this study, two rival accounts of the mental operations used to solve Piaget's three-mountain perspective task are tested. One hypothesis is that if children use some form of mental rotation through anticipatory imagery, scores should improve as the angle of separation between the child and the other viewer is decreased. A second hypothesis is…

Examines relationship between literacy and intellectual development and the belief that literacy leads to higher forms of thought. Describes research findings among the Vai of Liberia, a people who invented a syllabic writing system to represent their own language. Investigates effects of becoming literate separately from effects of attending…

The author examines nuance of meaning, polysemy, and ambiguity as three aspects of language development. He notes that children have a natural talent for learning about language. The goal of language instruction should therefore be to strengthen children's intuitive knowledge by providing opportunities for inductive learning. (Author)

Twelve one-word-stage children were given minimally contrasting two-word instructions. Since non-linguistic cues were eliminated, comprehension involved making non-syntactic inferences from the word combinations. The children could respond correctly to some of the instructions, and even carried out some unfamiliar activities. (Author/SW)

An intervention study investigated effects of maternal behavior on the cognitive and language functioning of economically disadvantaged four-year-olds (N=40) at risk for mental retardation. Mothers who increased inductive, responsive, and complex behavior and mothers who increased only inductive and responsive behavior both effectively increased…

Discusses a variety of storytelling techniques. Emphasizes the importance of children's involvement in the construction and use of storytelling props. Concludes that storytelling helps children develop a positive attitude toward learning and extends their opportunities for literacy development. (RWB)

Discusses research results that demonstrate that nonlinguistic symbolic deficits of language-impaired children may actually reflect resource allocation constraints and cross-modality deficits. Discusses implications of studies that contrast symbolic action development in normally developing children with that in children with specific language…

Explores the relations among combinatorial capacities in language, symbolic play, blockbuilding, and nonsemantic action sequences within a sample of 18- to 24-month-old children, as well as assessing the developmental level of a selected subset of concepts. (HOD)

Investigates the development of communicative competence during preschool age by analyzing certain types of communicative acts and sequences of communicative acts in adult-child and child-child communication. Assumes there are certain phases in which a child is especially prepared for the acquisition of certain types of communicative acts. (SED)