This editorial, introducing a special issue on social-emotional development of students with learning disabilities, reviews general trends in recent research and curriculum development. The editorial presents social-emotional development as the next major area (following cognitive, metacognitive, and behavioral studies) from which meaningful…

Presents three keys for designing successful circle time: multisensory experiences, multilevel instruction, and multiple opportunities to learn. Includes related, responsive strategies to accommodate "hard-to-engage" children during large-group activities. (HTH)

Individuals with autism without mental retardation (ages 8-18), Asperger syndrome, and nonspecific social problems (controls) engaged in a 10-minute conversation. Compared to controls, the higher functioning autistic group referred less to a previous stretch of the conversation and more to an aspect of the physical environment. The Asperger group…

Describes "Story Producer for InteractivE Learning" (SPIEL) a multimedia retrieval system for educational stories, and its integration into an architecture called "Guided Social Simulation" (GuSS), for teaching complex social skills such as management, diplomacy, or selling. Highlights include an example of the use of SPIEL,…

Professional traits include having goals; a desire for continuous learning; the ability to hire the right people; and attributes such as initiative, integrity, far-sightedness, and the ability to create quality products and services. Continuing professional development can be fostered through the American Camping Association Professional…

Investigated the effects of group therapy on latency-age children lacking social skills. Found that experimental boys were more realistic about their friendship relationships after treatment than were control group boys. Girls' perceptions were significantly correlated at the end of treatment, whether they were experimental or control subjects.…

Reviews, from a legal counsel's perspective, themes common to improving or discharging incompetent teachers. Teachers who fail remediation are unhappy people who never understand they have problems. Administrators who inflate evaluation grades aid this avoidance. Administrators must overcome their personal predilections and training and act like…

Gifted girls (n=30) who participated in psychotherapy tended to focus on either social relationships or achievement. Girls who focused on achievement tended to be the brightest and exhibited the cognitive styles of divergent thinking, integrative thinking, or perceptive thinking. These girls also tended to exhibit problems dealing with peers and…

Strategies to increase positive peer interactions of young children with hearing impairments include reducing teacher-child interactions, changing classroom activity structure, social skills intervention, peer-mediated interventions, increasing familiarity through intensive contact, and peer orientation. Evidence of effectiveness of these…

Describes study in which three children with autism were trained to initiate social interactions with normally developing peers. The findings offer evidence that children with autism can learn to initiate and maintain a social interaction with their peers and that these skills will generalize to novel settings and people. (LKS)

Examines influences of peer relations on the development of social and cognitive competence. Discusses implications of differences in boys' and girls' play styles for cognitive skills and the development of intimacy. Notes that gender segregation is initiated and maintained within the peer group. (BAC)

Reports findings from interviews of 389 Nso parents or grandparents. Found that traditional values were widely endorsed but that mothers, parents, and urban respondents expressed less indigenous viewpoints than did fathers, grandparents, and rural respondents. Also discusses topics related to the socialization, learning, and social interaction of…

To impress search committees, administrator candidates should address replies to all committee members, avoid alcohol drinks during lunch, find out committee members' names and their proper pronunciations, drive around the community before the interview, dress conservatively, avoid bad-mouthing their current school system, ask questions, and…

Generalization probes conducted preceding and following social skills training (using a game format) of high school students with mild mental retardation found acquisition of social skills across game conditions. Although immediate generalization to nontraining environments did not occur, a possible "deferred generalization" effect was found at…

College males (n=74), who self-reported past aggression toward female partners, were allowed to electrically shock female confederates who were responsible for exposing the males to no-, low-, or high-frustration conditions. Aggression in subjects' relationship histories produced a significant main effect for both intensity and duration of the…