Twelve children with autism, 12 with Down's syndrome, and 12 typically developing children, matched on gender and verbal mental age, were given a series of forced choices to examine characteristics of autism concerning preferences for relatedness, animate or inanimate objects, and interpersonal relationships. Performances of the groups differed on…

Presents a theory of child-development stages that reflects the relationship between children's play and the need to create a personal identity. Considers the relationship between socializing play and individuation, and defines four stages of identity development through play: amorphous, play, games, and generalization and maturity. (JPB)

This observational study suggests that many toddler friendships are occurring all the time, waiting to be discovered and fostered by astute teachers. Asserts that those working in toddler programs need to be sensitive to the potential for friendships in 2-year-olds and nurture these first fragile bonds. (EV)

Comparison of 15 high functioning children (ages 8-12) with autism and two control groups (specific language disabled or normally developing) on measures of anxiety and social worries found children with autism were most anxious on both measures used. High anxiety subscale scores for the autism group were on separation anxiety and…

The subject of discipline is often confused with classroom management. Although related, classroom management and discipline are distinctly different topics. Classroom management deals with how things are done. It entails structure, procedures, and routines, to the point of becoming rituals. When procedures are explained to and practiced by…

The study examined perceptions of issues associated with inclusive education of 437 parents from a midwestern state in the United States who have a child with a mild, moderate, or severe disability. Parents responded to a modified form of the Opinions Related to Mainstreaming (ORM) Scale (Antonak & Larrivee, 1995) and provided additional written…

Early childhood education must bolster basic cognitive and social-emotional competencies to prepare children for authentic learning. The preschool educators should view academic skills and concepts as valuable tools in the process of developing essential competencies.

Viewing indirect aggression on television has been shown to have negative short-term effects on a viewer's subsequent aggressive behavior; however, the longer term relationship between viewing indirect aggression on television and in real life has not yet been examined. Three hundred and forty-seven adolescents, aged 11-14, were asked to list…

Sport and exercise psychology research appearing in Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport (RQES) over the past 75 years can be characterized by re-emerging themes--hot topics in the 1930s remain hot topics now. Re-emerging themes include sportsmanship/moral development, social development/significant others, self-perceptions,…

This paper maintains that post Lave and Wenger VET has overlooked the relation between vocational curricula and workplace practice. The paper attributes this oversight to Kant's legacy in the "situated" tradition in VET and critics of that tradition. The paper argues that when Vygotsky's concept of mediation is allied to the recent work of Robert…

The world of higher education is changing and the world in which higher education plays a significant role is changing. The international dimension of higher education is becoming increasingly important, complex, and confusing. It is therefore timely to reexamine and update the conceptual frameworks underpinning the notion of inter-nationalization…

Emotional availability (EA) is a prominent index of socioemotional adaptation in the parent-child dyad. Can basic psychometric properties of EA be looked at from both variable (scale) and person (cluster) points of view in individuals and in dyads? Is EA stable and continuous over a short period of time? This methodological study shows significant…

This article tells us about the history of self-advocacy in Denmark. It also gives some information about how services for people with learning difficulties in Denmark have changed over the past 100 years. In this article, I talk about "movements" of self-advocacy, which means the different types of self-advocacy groups that have grown…

This article begins with an analysis of a 1987 report by a research group of the World Health Organization [WHO] of the United Nations General Assembly, under the heading "The Health of Young People Is the Concern of Society." The author discusses the "Schools of Health" project, as well as the "Health-Promoting…

This report presents findings from the Massachusetts Family Child Care study, a two-year evaluation of the impacts of an early childhood education program on providers and children in family child care. The program--"LearningGames"--is designed to train caregivers to stimulate children's cognitive, language, and social-emotional…