Examines children's knowledge and understanding of global spatial relationships. Utilizing cut-outs of continents to estimate their size in relation to Europe, the students consistently underestimated the size of Asia and overestimated Australia. Possible reasons for this are discussed and teaching approaches suggested. (MJP)

Discusses changes occurring in two-, four-, and six-month-old infants' visual attention span, through a series of experiments examining their ability to orient to peripheral visual stimuli. The results obtained were consistent with the hypothesis that infants get faster with age in shifting attention to a spatial location. (AA)

Describes an empirical study of the effect of computer game practice on the improvement of skills that are related to visual perception in young children. Treatment of experimental and control groups of kindergarten children in Israel are described, and recommendations for the use of computer games versus educational games are given. (23…

The Test of Visual Perceptual Abilities and the Test of Spatial Perception in Sign Language were developed and administered to 682 hearing-impaired students, aged 8-18. Results showed that a significant relationship exists between visual perceptual abilities and the ability to comprehend the essential spatial components of sign language.…

Two visually impaired children, aged 8 and 10, appeared to have severe difficulty in recognizing faces. After assessment, it became apparent that only one had unusually poor facial recognition skills. After training, which included matching face photographs, schematic faces, and digitized faces, there was no evidence of any improvement.…

An analysis of questionnaires completed by 94 partially sighted children and their parents attempted to identify the visual environmental adaptation problems (VEAPs) of children in regular classrooms. Significant VEAPs were found in classroom tasks, in tasks that required the resolution of fine detail, and in some mobility tasks. (Author/DB)

Discusses using educational and popular films and television for history instruction. Argues that students need training to see the bias built into film making through the editing process. Urges that critical thinking must be developed in students to make use of mass media coverage of historical and current events as teaching tools. (DK)

Spatial aptitude tests designed for elementary school children were given to third-grade students from both suburban and rural schools in Pennsylvania. Results were scrutinized by the declared favorite subjects of the participants and organized by gender. Students who preferred science and mathematics did better on spatial tests than students who…

Examined sex differences in perceptual and cognitive abilities and in reading skills among 922 first graders in the United States, India, and Taiwan. Found that girls scored significantly higher than boys on reading skills, visual memory, directionality, and ability to track nonsymbolic figures. Urban children outscored rural children on four…

Elementary and middle school children (n=105) completed measures of reading achievement and cognitive abilities. Factor analysis produced three empirically and theoretically derived factors, auditory processing, visual processing/speed, and memory. Together the three factors combined predicted 61 to 85% of the variance associated with different…

This volume of 12 lessons--each one written by either a medical or a mental health professional--provides expert information on a variety of medical and psychological issues in rehabilitative counseling. The lessons, each of which concludes with a few multiple-choice questions, are as follows: (1) "Rehabilitation of the Seriously Mentally…

This guide is intended for teachers, parents, and community workers in many countries and provides concrete advice on meeting the needs of children with specific learning disabilities. The guide begins with a definition of learning disabilities and identifies seven areas of disability. It then considers in more detail five areas concerned with…

This study investigated the premise that disordered temporal order perception in retarded readers can be seen in the serial processing of both nonverbal auditory and visual information, and examined whether such information processing deficits relate to level of reading ability. The adult subjects included 20 in the dyslexic group, 12 in the…

The role of color used in graphics in facilitating recall of verbal material was studied in a follow-up to previous research on the use of a color code in graphics presentations. An analysis of variance for repeated measures was used to test the hypothesis that significant interactions and differences would occur. Independent variables manipulated…

The Mem-ExSpan Accelerative Cognitive Training System (MESACTS) is described as a cognitive skills training program for schools, businesses, and industry. The program achieves extraordinary academic results in reading and mathematics with 1 semester of input 4 days a week for 30 minutes a day. Intensive versions of the program accelerate…