The learning of a list of 20 Blissymbols and comparable American Sign Language signs by 121 nonhandicapped undergraduate psychology students was compared. Blissymbols were learned significantly faster than manual signs, particularly in early learning trials. Results are discussed in terms of the memory requirements of the two systems. (Author/JDD)

A reliable instrument was developed to identify elementary-age children who have difficulty with time estimation, as indicated by choices on a pencil-and-paper test. The instrument was used to compare performances of learning disabled and nondisabled children. Findings provide empirical support for temporal difficulties among learning disabled…

Attempts to identify deficits in object knowledge specific to the autistic syndrome. Examines the correspondence between sensorimotor and play behaviors and language in mentally retarded and normal children. Determines whether these correspondences are different for autistic, mentally retarded, and normal children.(Author/AS)

This study investigated the effects of an inductive reasoning training program on children's performance on intelligence test tasks, the range of transfer, the long-term effects of training over 4 months, and the effectiveness of group training. Participating were 47 third-grade children of average ability. The 23 children randomly assigned to the…

Native language acquisition is a natural and non-natural stage-by-stage process. The natural first stage is development of speech and listening skills. In this stage, competency is gained in the home environment. The next, non-natural stage is development of literacy, a cultural skill taught in school. Since oral-aural native language development…

A study conducted with 20 good and 20 poor first-grade readers suggested that the ability to induce grapheme-phoneme relationships was much more strongly related to reading ability than was receptive vocabulary. Good readers appeared to apply a principled solution to a word-learning task, while poor readers used an associative solution. (Author/GT)

Cognitive abilities that predicted growth in response to a 12-week training program in phonological awareness were investigated in 100 kindergarten children. Findings suggested that growth in analytic awareness was predicted by invented spelling and general verbal ability, while growth in synthetic awareness was predicted by a combination of…

Describes a study of 24 secondary school students in London (England) that explored ways in which reflective writing supported pupils' learning. Writing with support from the teacher was compared with support from the teacher and from a hypermedia framework, and results showed improvement in pupils' ability to reason with the hypermedia support.…

Investigated verbal and nonverbal paired associate learning among 8- to 11-year-old Dutch dyslexic children and chronological-age and reading-age controls. Found that dyslexic children had difficulty with verbal learning of words and nonwords. Phonological and general learning errors were distributed similarly for the reading groups. Found no…

Discussion of the amount of mental effort children invest in television viewing versus book reading focuses on a Dutch study based on Salomon's model and his studies with children in Israel and the United States. The depth of information processed is discussed, and differences in results are examined. (18 references) (LRW)

Examined whether superior recall of items in event-based categorical relations, or "slot fillers," remained when association and typicality were controlled. Found that only children receiving the typical + high association slot-filler list showed significantly better recall than with the taxonomic-coordinate list, with no differences…

Developmental aspects of spelling-to-sound mapping for English monosyllabic words are investigated with a simple two-layer network model using a simple, general learning rule. The model is trained on both regularly and irregularly spelled words but extracts regular spelling to sound relationships, which it can apply to new words. Training-related…

This study compared 34 lower-achieving (developmental) first-time college students' self-reported self-regulation strategies from a Likert scale to those they reported in structured interviews. Likert scales have offered convenient administration and evaluation and have been used to identify what and how learners study. The reported study activity…

McCarthy (1985) constructed the 4MAT teaching model, an eight step instrument developed in 1980, by synthesizing Dewey's experiential learning, Kolb's four learning styles, Jung's personality types, as well as Bogen's left mode and right mode of brain processing preferences. An important implication of this model is that learning retention is…