The play behavior of young children is viewed as a behavioral manifestation of nonverbal thinking. Discussed are issues of relevance to the understanding of the development of thought in general and of the symbolic function in particular. A line of development is proposed which leads from early nonverbal thought as manifested in play, either…

A study examined preschoolers' metacognitive self-regulatory behaviors. It was hypothesized that tasks that omitted or greatly decreased verbalization would allow preschool children to exhibit evidence of metacognitive self-regulatory behaviors. Subjects were 20 preschool children, half identified as special needs and half designated as typical…

This paper describes a program of research into children's understanding of psychological principles underlying social behavior. An initial study had indicated that at about 10 years of age children knew many of the basic principles of social behavior and the rules for social control. Two strategies were developed to explore these findings in…

A child's neuropsychological assessment entails the examination of the neurological integrity and functioning of a child's brain and the child's concommitant behavioral responses. This paper reviews the use of two major assessment batteries: (1) the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Tests that measure basic sensory and motor functioning as well…

This dissertation examines the thesis that it is the human language system which largely makes possible the human capacity for modifiability of responses called "intelligent" and "adaptive" modes of interaction with the environment. Chapter titles are (1) A Process View of Human Behavior, (2) Aspects of the Multi-Dimensional Nature of Cognitive…

This document presents some of the major challenges facing Developmental Psychologists. Research revealed that middle class children tended to respond in classification tasks to objects and pictures as equivalents, whereas low class black children tended not to do so. The reason for this was investigated. This investigation of the course of…