Two experiments using a measure of pure preference with second, fifth, eighth, and eleventh graders generally supported the developmental theory of reward preferences. (JMB)

The main assumptions and categories of Kohlberg's theory are outlined. New empirical studies and critical reviews are discussed, and their implications assessed. The relevance of the theory to moral education is seen as self-evident. The conditions for the efficacy of moral education programs are discussed. (Editor/SJL)

The article discusses the rationale for a program to develop efficiency in visual functioning for low vision individuals. Detailed identification of all visual functions necessary for maximum efficiency, along with specification of visual tasks related to developmental milestones are charted. (Author/PHR)

Approximately 200 children, age 5-11, from three different regions in Southern England were interviewed about their understanding of social events: school, store, money, payment, the community and government, some specific jobs and acquisition of a role. (MS)

The problems and opportunities presented when child care personnel are young, often only one developmental stage above those in their care, are reviewed and analyzed with case examples. (MS)

Available from: Journal of Pediatric Psychology, Child Study Center, 1100 N.E. 13th Street, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73117.

Used multilevel analyses to examined the amounts of time infants spent asleep, awake, content, feeding, fussing, and crying at 2, 6, 12, and 40 weeks of age. Found that day-to-day fluctuations accounted for between 44 and 53% of the variance in amounts of time sleeping, fussing, and crying. (MDM)

Presents three activities for teaching spelling to students in grades 2-6 using individualized weekly spelling lists made up of developmentally appropriate words. (SM)

This article looks into why infants learn to talk, using a series of illustrative proposals as to the short- and long-term consequences to the infant behaviors that lead to linguistic competence. The goal of the article is to encourage investigation of behavioral dispositions that nudge the child toward proficiency in the use of the spoken…

A study of 90 children in third, fourth, and fifth grade investigated the students' ability to detect the idioms embedded in 12 humorous items and their ability to explain the idioms. Results showed that idiom comprehension improved significantly between the ages of 8 and 11 years and that idiom detection was easier than idiom explanation. (CR)

This discussion of planning for individuals with autism using a life-span perspective considers stages and transitions across life, noting the special difficulty these individuals have with transitions; changing perspectives on disability in the United States; and characteristics of comprehensive life-span programs (sophisticated diagnoses, strong…

Replies to a report on three toddlers who evidenced a late vocabulary spurt. The article argues that differences in assessing productive vocabulary and the questionable inference that size of the lexicon is a reliable indicator of the vocabulary spurt make it inappropriate to compare these children to previous studies directly measuring change in…

Conceptualizes cohesion as contextually adapted clause level redundancies and focuses on emergent literacy. Analyzes 96 texts for indices of context/register appropriate cohesion and wording choices. Finds significant income and emergent reading category main effects. Suggests developmental patterns and an identifiable level of code-switching…

Whether mental attentional capacity increases as a linear function of age during normal childhood development, as predicted by the neo-Piagetian developmental theory of J. Pascual-Leone (1970 and later), was studied with 215 children aged 5 to 12 years. Results provide only partial support for the Pascual-Leone theory. (SLD)

Examined developmental stability and change in children's private speech during the preschool years across-task constituency in children's self-speech, and across-setting relations between private speech in the laboratory and behavior at home and in the classroom. Clear associations were found between children's private speech use in the…