Notes that achieving school readiness for all children by the year 2000 will require a reconceptualization of the concept of readiness. Reviews some of the relevant history of readiness as an area of inquiry, and details the issues surrounding readiness, including school readiness versus learning readiness, and chronological age of entry versus…

Prelinguistically deafened children (n=28) with cochlear implants performed imitative and structured spontaneous sampling speech tasks. Results found children who had used implants for at least two years acquired some intelligible speech; children who received implants before five years of age showed greater benefit than later recipients; and…

Using a video sign-monitoring task in American Sign Language, this study investigated the effects of late exposure to a primary language on adult linguistic processing. Native signers were sensitive to errors in both verb agreement and aspect; early and late signers were only sensitive to errors in aspect morphology. Late exposure was found to…

Reports on a study of the color terms used in Setswana. The study compared terms used by children with those of adults and those used by people from rural areas with those used by people from urban areas. Results show a move away from traditional Setswana color terms toward the use of borrowed English terms, particularly among the young and…

Examined the effects of gender, attendance period, and age on 820 children's adjustment to nursery classes. Found that boys and afternoon attenders appeared to be less well adjusted to school than girls and morning attenders, and older children appeared better adjusted than the younger children. Results suggest strategies to help children adjust…

Examined the effects of print exposure on growth of declarative knowledge and vocabulary in 133 college students and 49 elderly adults. Compared groups on two general knowledge tasks, vocabulary, working memory, syllogistic reasoning, and print exposure. Found that exposure to print was a significant predictor of declarative and vocabulary…

Reports on a study of the role of pupil age in scholastic performance among 4,123 Maltese primary-age students. Finds a strong and consistent age effect in Maltese, English, and mathematics achievement in three grade levels. Also finds that girls consistently outperformed boys in the three subjects. (CFR)

Examination of developmental scores of 198 infants and young children with Down's Syndrome attending exemplary early intervention programs found more similarity to other children in Personal Social and Adaptive Domains and less similarity in Communication and Cognitive Domains of the Battelle Developmental Inventory. These differences were…

This study presents cross-tabulations of educational placement variables by demographic characteristics for subgroups of the deaf and hard-of-hearing population (n=40,518). Variables include type of school, amount of academic integration with hearing students, number of hearing-impaired students, degree of hearing loss, age, ethnic and racial…

Although evidence indicates that people know how the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is spread, many are not changing risky sexual behavior patterns. Reasons for this lack of change are explored, and a four-point program for containing the epidemic is offered. Age- and gender-specific programs are essential. (SLD)

Assessed family perceptions of parent-adolescent conflict four times from grade six to summer following grade eight. Mothers, fathers, and adolescents from 80 families reported on parent-adolescent conflict. Conflict over chores, appearance, and politeness decreased over 2.5 years whereas conflict over finances increased. Substance-use conflict…

Analysis of the Learning Style Inventory scores of 155 gifted African-American, Mexican-American, and American-born Chinese students in grades 6-8 indicated significant group differences in preferences for noise, light, visual modality, studying in the afternoon, and persistence. Gender and grade differences were found for some variables.…

Examined secondary school students' (n=364) attitudes toward time use. Three constructs of time-use attitudes were identified: passive fatalistic, egoistic, and conscientious. Several significant developmental patterns of time-use attitudes were found for males and females in grades 8, 10, and 12. (Author/NB)

This study investigated whether significant group, gender, and grade differences existed in the learning style preferences of high school students with learning disabilities (n=53) and gifted students (n=64). Findings indicated significant group differences in preferences for light, design, and kinesthetic modality, as well as for motivation,…

Examined the connection between adolescents' expressions of negative affect and their attempts to meet the developmental task of establishing autonomy and relatedness in interactions with their parents. Longitudinal observational data and interviews of 96 adolescents and their parents revealed that difficulties establishing autonomy and…