This study of 3 low-functioning children (ages 6-9) with autism found that subjects could successfully use pictures to manage their self-care behavior in the absence of a treatment provider, generalize their behavior across settings and tasks, and maintain behaviors at follow-up. When picture order was manipulated, subjects followed the new…

Suggests library-based activities that focus on the relationship between art and literature. Suggests van Eyck's painting, "The Arnolfini Marriage," to elicit from students the history, conditions, themes, and symbols portrayed. Lists a Web-site for more resources and suggested related literature available at several student levels. (ET)

Examined differences between mothers of behavior-problem boys (MBPs) and mothers of average boys (MABs)in processing information in compliance situations. Found the MBPs made greater attributions of defiant intent toward the child and experienced more anger than MABs in ambiguous stimulus situations and that MBPs expected more resistance in…

Investigated effects of object reinstatement on event recall by 6- and 9-year olds'. Subjects were interviewed either 10 days and again 10 weeks after an event, or only 10 weeks after an event. Interviewing included free recall, prompts, and questions. Found that age, delay, and object reinstatement all affected amount and accuracy of recall. (JW)

Three children (ages 4-5) with autism and mental retardation were treated for deficits in self-initiated speech. A treatment package employing visual cue fading was compared with a graduated time-delay procedure. Both treatments included training multiple self-initiated verbalizations using multiple therapists and settings. Both treatments were…

This study of the effects of intensive multisensory speech training on the speech production of a profoundly hearing-impaired child (age nine) found that the addition of Visual Phonics hand cues did not result in speech production gains. All six target phonemes were generalized to new words and maintained after the intervention was discontinued.…

In two experiments, mothers told their infant and an adult a story that involved target words, and women taught an assembly procedure involving novel terminology to another adult. In speech to infants, mothers positioned focused words on pitch peaks, but in speech to adults, the emphasis was more variable. (BC)

Medical students (N=284) from four Northeastern medical schools interacted with standardized patients, then were given a free-response form (blank form for writing diagnostic impressions) and then they completed a cued-response form, which listed a series of diagnoses generated by the case author. The patients also completed a checklist. (MLW)

Discusses a case study designed to develop an intervention to promote the generalization of social skills for a child with an educational classification of behavior disorders. Results indicate that social-skills instruction alone failed to result in generalization but subsequent use of a group contingency resulted in generalizations across…

Investigated whether beginning adult learners, given auditory stimuli, were equally likely to represent French gender subclasses using phonological, morphosyntactic, and/or semantic representations. Data from adult English speakers learning patterned French and translation equivalent lists indicated that the construct of input for gender learning…

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…

This article reviews five self-management strategies used to help people with severe and profound developmental disabilities acquire and maintain constructive occupation: picture cues presented on sets of cards, picture cues stored in computer-aided systems, object cues attached to cards, verbal cues stored in audio recording devices, and…

Studies by Unsworth and Williams (1988, 1990) compared the textual variation of purpose-written big books with literary texts. Purpose-written big books help children to predict repetitive clauses that realize explicit and simplistic meanings. (Contains six references.) (JP)

A computerized test of preparedness for effortful processing (alerting attention), response to orienting cues (orienting attention), and response to the interference of competing demands (executive attention) was administered to a diverse sample of 249 children (47% female, 4.96 to 7.27 years) to assess developmental properties and…

Dynamic assessment is applied to phonological disorders with the Scaffolding Scale of Stimulability (SSS). The SSS comprises a 21-point hierarchical scale of cues and linguistic environments. With the SSS, clinicians assess stimulability as a diagnostic indicator and use the measure to monitor progress across treatment. Unlike other phonological…