The study investigated factors responsible for referral and placement of elementary grade learning disabled students. Nine teachers with a total of 212 students rated students for such factors as teachability, motivation, social skills, and academic potential. Other measures included the Home Language Survey and the Comprehensive Test of Basic…

The paper reviews studies of field articulation, that is, dimensions of field dependence-independence in social as well as perceptual domains. Field independence, one's ability to isolate an item from its surroundings, is contrasted with field dependence, manifested in one's difficulties analyzing and focusing on specific aspects of a task. The…

Most physicians can expect to counsel a family or individual concerned about possible exposure to acquired immue deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Medical professionals need comprehensive AIDS training and educational programs which cover medical, epidemiologic, psychosocial, and neuropsychiatric aspects of AIDS. Counseling psychologists can provide a…

Two newsletters focus on alternatives for community living and approaches to teaching social skills to children and youth with disabilities. The first issue provides information on some family support services and community-based living arrangements that are currently available for children with severe and profound handicaps or chronic illnesses.…

Urban and rural third graders were studied to test the hypothesis that children's self-reported views of their ability to cope with the environment and their teacher's views of their performance patterns in adaptation and intrapersonal growth would have correlations with academic test performance. Teacher appraisals of adaptation covered…

While some people have difficulty adjusting to retirement, others seem to adjust easily. The search for theory to explain the source of positive retirement may require research methods to develop theory rather than to test theory. Grounded theory methodology was used to determine the characteristics and sources of characteristics of adults who had…

Observations in a neighborhood day care center revealed that teachers, when they handed out a "paint shirt" without fastening it, set up a situation in which children helped one another. With modifications, this naturally occurring situation was used in order to increase the incidence of peer helping behavior so that it could be studied…

Embarrassment occurs when the social identity or "face" that one is trying to maintain is abruptly discredited. Thus, embarrassment usually assumes the presence of an audience, real or imagined, and a public predicament which changes the situation. Most people try to avoid embarrassment if they can, and if they have been embarrassed they…

A study was conducted to test a "peak communication experience" (PCE) scale developed from Abraham Maslow's theory of PCE's, a model of one's highest interpersonal communication moments in terms of perceived mutual understanding, happiness, and personal fulfillment. Nineteen items, extrapolated from Maslow's model but rendered more…

The relationship between cognitive style (field independence/field dependence), proctor/student interactions, and achievement of undergraduate students in a Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) course was studied. Field dependence/independence was measured using the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT), which measures ability to identify a…

One in a series of core instructional materials for apprentices to use during the first or second years of apprentice-related subjects training, this booklet deals with interpersonal skills and communication. The first section consists of an outline of the content and scope of the core materials as well as a self-assessment pretest. Covered in the…

A study was conducted to test the reliability and validity of the Intimate Coding System (INCS)--an instrument designed to code verbal conversation in intimate relationships. Subjects, 34 married couples, completed Spanier's Dyadic Adjustment Scale, which elicited information about relational adjustment and satisfaction in intimate couples in…

A developmental interactionist model for promoting social competence is proposed. It is argued that personal and social resources present in infancy are expanded, refined, and hierarchically reorganized continuously throughout the life-span as a function of development and experience. Social competence is seen as the result of integrating and…

Noting that while high school students have received instruction in reading and writing, few have received any instruction in speaking and listening skills, this document advocates a greater recognition of the need for a more realistic balance of instruction in the four communication areas than has traditionally been the case. Sections of the…

The paper examines research on social skills instruction for learning disabled young adults. It is suggested that learning disabled young adults must develop methods of analyzing their social inadequacies. Such analyses may come from the young adults, when they are able to apply metacognition skills to social situations. Parents, teachers, and/or…