Social narratives (e.g., Social Stories™) are common antecedent-based interventions promoted for the purposes of improving prosocial behaviors and reducing challenging behavior for children with and without disabilities. Although they are commonly prescribed and used, their effectiveness has almost exclusively been assessed for children with…

The paper argues that educators of the gifted have overlooked important evidence on the power of special environments because of our habit of considering cognitive outcomes and an outsider view of evidence as the standard for judging the benefits of special environments. The author proposes that social context be used as a construct to help…

To determine the effectiveness of the Astor Program, an early intervention program for children aged 4 years and above who show unusual evidence of academic ability, 28 Astor children and 24 control children equally qualified as gifted were compared. The children were tested with the Stanford-Binet Test, the Goodenough Draw-a-Man Test, and the…

Phase II of a study on the effectiveness of B. Feingold's recommended diet for hyperactive children involved the nine children (mean age 9 years) who had shown the "best" response to diet manipulation in Phase I. Each child served as his own control and was challenged with specified amounts of placebo and artificial color containing food…

Investigated was the effectiveness of a flashcard and fading tutoring procedure in increasing the spelling performance of a 9-year-old boy. The S practiced word completion four times a week (20 minutes per session) on four different words each session, and was tested at the end of each week on all 16 words. During 3 weeks of tutoring, S's spelling…

An evaluation of the effectiveness of the components of the Purdue Creative Thinking Program (used to increase creative thinking) was made. The Program was shown to prove most effective with fourth and fifth graders, with the exercises (writing, drawing) proving to be the most valuable component. (CD)

An analysis of the research literature suggests that a variety of sign systems have been used with retarded individuals of varying ages. The application or success or failure of that therapy does not seem to be determined by a particular treatment model and/or set of guidelines. (Author)

The effectiveness of a gifted program emphasizing creativity with 91 gifted Ss (grades 3 to 6) was compared to a control program for 78 gifted age matched Ss. Experimental Ss made significantly higher scores on post-tests of figural, semantic, and symbolic creativity. (CL)

Compared to 44 nontrained child aides, 19 trained aides had significantly higher postprogram scale scores on opinions and beliefs about acting out children, changes in feeling about working with them, and actual observed changes in their playroom behaviors. (Author)

The paper describes a study in which 34 primary class students were identified as high risk by the Guide to the Child's Learning Skills (GCLS), a teacher-based instrument for screening and followup. It is reported that an 8-week period of instruction using the Flying Start materials, experimental Ss showed significant improvement on the Columbia…

Reported are findings of a study involving 46 families in which the effect of the Feingold (additive free) diet on hyperactivity in preschool and elementary age children was investigated. Eleven sections cover the following project components: introduction (definition of hyperactivity and the B. Feingold hypothesis), methodology, demographic…

Reported are findings of a longitudinal study on the differential effects of five preschool programs on comparable groups of 4-year-old disadvantaged children. Descriptions are given for the five preschool programs studied: the Bereiter-Engelmann program, which involves intensive oral drill in verbal and logical patterns; the Karnes Ameliorative…

Over a two-year period 16 language impaired and developmentally delayed children (mean ages four and five years) were provided eight weeks of concentrated instruction in five language areas: nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, and syntax. (CL)