Examines similarities and differences in responses and experiences of two children's natural literacy development--the author's son, and the daughter of librarian Dorothy White, described in "Books before Five." Concludes that by reading aloud and discussing books with the children, parents created a strong foundation for beginning…

Forty-five parents or spouses of head-injured patients were studied to: (1) determine differences among various family types on clinically relevant dimensions of family functioning, based on Olson's Circumplex model, and (2) establish the validity of three assessment methods. Results showed family functioning to be an important factor in recovery.…

This review of 10 years (1983-93) of 2 journals on individuals with deafness summarizes research on family influences on child achievement and the influence of educational interventions on families of deaf children. Parental expectations and family communication fluency were most commonly linked to child achievement. Interventions exhibited…

Fifty second-born preschoolers and their families were observed at 3 intervals over a 14-month period to examine the relations between emotional expression in the family, children's understanding of emotions, and children's social understanding. Frequent expressions of anger or distress within the family when children were 33-months-old was…

Relates the latest installment of a continuing conversation between the author and Virginia Hamilton. Discusses ethnicity and identity, environmental issues, the creative process, and the way heritage, history, and family storytelling affect a writer's work. (RS)

This study investigated the relationship between perceived family environment and psychological distress among 76 adults with visual impairments of fewer than 4 years duration, who had undergone at least 4 months of rehabilitation classes. Family environmental traits strongly influenced adjustment to vision loss. Distress was positively correlated…

Investigated the relationship between Singaporean preschoolers' play and language patterns. Observations of 56 children at play in a standardized setting in their classrooms and in their homes were videotaped and analyzed using two play measures and five language measures. Higher levels of play and higher levels of language were found to…

Research shows that the most significant factor in student achievement is the student's family. Criticizes the funds spent on multicultural programs that have so little influence on students' success. (MLF)

Analysis of characteristics of 53 children with specific language impairment (SLI), ages 4 to 9, suggested that family history is related to pattern of language performance. Children with deficits in only expressive language had a higher proportion of affected family members than did children with both expressive and receptive language deficits.…

Explores the link between achievement and intimate relationships, with emphasis on older brothers, for rural black females who enter college as first-year students. The article examines the social forces that inspired academic success among women of different class backgrounds attending college and majoring in social work. (GR)

Compared models of depressive symptoms in a 6-month prospective study of 95 nonreferred 11- to 13-year olds. Results showed that adolescents who perceived their parents, siblings, and friends as supportive, suffered fewer depressive symptoms. Life stress failed to correlate with concurrent depressive symptoms. Attributional style was primarily a…

Compared the family environments of adolescent sex offenders and violent and nonviolent juvenile delinquents with a normative sample of adolescents. Differences between the delinquents and the normative sample arose on 6 of 10 subscales of the Family Environment Scale. No differences were found among the three categories of juvenile delinquents.…

Attempted empirical validation of the fixated-regressed typology used in child sexual abuse literature. Analysis of 136 consecutive cases of convicted child molesters over a 2-year period revealed that the victim's and offender's family relatedness and the offender's prior non-sex-criminal record significantly predicted an offender's degree of…

Used community samples to determine the effects of childhood family support or dysfunction and the extent of parent drug-use problems on adult intimacy issues, such as sexual satisfaction. Results showed that parent drug-use predicted poor family support; family support correlated strongly with good adult intimate relations. (RJM)

This study assessed the family history of speech, language, and school problems in 62 young children (mean age 28 months) with developmental expressive language delay (ELD). Comparison with normally developing children indicated no strong familial component of ELD. (Author/DB)