Examined development of concept of suicide in 60 children. Found that 10 percent of first, 50 percent of third, and 95 percent of fifth graders had basic understanding of suicide. Attitudes toward suicide were neutral or negative. Concept of suicide was significantly related to concept of death and experiences with death and was also related to…

A study compared child and adult dyslexic readers to normal readers. Results indicated that dyslexics do not acquire appropriate levels of phoneme awareness, regardless of their age or reading levels. However, their awareness of onsets and rimes developed as their reading skills developed. (BG)

Studied 120 children's understanding of indebtedness. Fifth graders reported a diminished obligation to reciprocate help that was given at a low cost to the helper; the obligation remained high for first and third graders. All children reported more obligation to reciprocate help from acquaintances than help from friends. (LB)

Age-related differences in language and other neuropsychological variables in 60 noninstitutionalized adults with Down syndrome were examined. Results indicated that there were significant relations between advanced age and the ability to comprehend spoken language and between advanced age and independence in activities of daily living skills.…

Reports on experiments to determine effects of overt speech on children's use of inner speech in short-term memory. Word length and phonemic similarity had greater effects on older children and when pictures were labeled at presentation. Suggests that speaking or listening to speech activates an internal articulatory loop. (Author/GH)

This study of 60 mothers of young children with physical disabilities in Israel failed to support hypothesis that mothers with "internally" focused locus of control would demonstrate greater utilization of their support system. Analysis indicated that mother's age, child's level of functioning, and existence of additional members of…

This descriptive study of 325 Ohio special education teachers examined factors influencing their attitudes about parents as educational collaborators. The study found that teachers view parents as more capable and are more open to parent input if they interact more frequently. Also, student age influenced openness, independent of interaction…

Parents (n=52) of blind and partially sighted infants and preschoolers were surveyed concerning the frequency of occurrence and stability of the children's stereotyped behaviors. Stereotyped behaviors frequently observed in blind children proved to be stable, whereas other stereotyped behaviors were less stable. Age of child and frequency of…

Nonword spellings were obtained from children in kindergarten through third grade in a study of the development of young children's phonological and orthographic knowledge. Results indicated that young children's nonword spellings reflected the joint influences of linguistic knowledge and psychological processes. (GLR)

Gender and decade-of-life effects on quality-of-life (QOL) experiences of the chronically mentally ill (CMI) are examined using data (n=469) from previous QOL research. Gender and decade-of-life affect objective QOL experiences more than life satisfaction. Data show a difference in midlife psychological adjustment between CMI males and females.…

Six experiments involving 192 infants and 1 experiment with 16 college students examined sensitivity to acoustic correlates of phrasal units in English. A basic finding is that nine-month-old infants are sensitive to acoustic markers that correspond to major phrasal units, a sensitivity that develops after six months. (SLD)

Students (n=107) in grades 4-6 were administered tests of evaluative ability and divergent thinking. Results indicated that evaluative abilities can be reliably assessed and that there was a significant relationship between divergent thinking and evaluative skill. The evaluative measures were negatively correlated with intelligence test scores.…

Describes a study that assessed social styles (i.e., preferred work environment and preferred use of time) and sustained library use (i.e., amount of work completed in the library) to learn more about the interaction between the library and the user. A significant relationship between social style and library use is reported. (seven references)…

Examined the effect of several variables on children's academic readiness at the end of kindergarten. Results indicated that age of entry into school and number of years in preschool predicted academic readiness. Children who entered preschool by age four scored higher on readiness measures than those who entered at age five. (BC)

Infants' orienting of attention undergoes marked development in the first six months of life. Changes in attentional control appear to be related to infants' susceptibility to distress. (Author)