Kindergarten children from 17 Los Angeles, California, schools were the subjects in a research project designed to measure the effects of a structured prereading program. The program emphasized six types of reading skills: (1) listening for comprehension, (2) listening for auditory discrimination, (3) visual discrimination, (4) oral language…

Presents reviews of the following mathematics software designed to teach young children counting, number recognition, visual discrimination, matching, addition, and subtraction skills; Stickybear Numbers, Learning with Leeper, Getting Ready to Read and Add, Counting Parade, Early Games for Young Children, Charlie Brown's 1,2,3's, Let's Go Fishing,…

An aesthetically based analysis of the visual imagery of commercial television is provided, and the usefulness of television as a basis for visual aesthetic criticism in aesthetic education is considered. Directed, critical inquiry of television can extend knowledge in art and aesthetics and enhance the quality of people's lives. (RM)

Practice in interpreting the critical features of incomplete line drawings and integrating fragmentary visual information was shown to enhance the visual efficiency of partially sighted children, aged 5 to 8. (BW)

A comparison of observed classroom behavior, tonic and phasic physiological arousal level, and task performance of 98 male and female first-grade children revealed sex differences in only 3 of 18 variables. Many assumed sex differences may be negligible and teachers' expectations may influence their perceptions. (SB)

Some recent research is examined on childrens' perception of pictures. Implications are drawn for those who create and use illustrated childrens' books. (SJL)

Reviews "Levels of Cognitive Development," which presents a theory of cognitive development integrating discrimination- learning research with understanding of higher cognitive processes. Argues that strengths include its presentation of systematic research and providing continuity between past and present models. Weaknesses include…

An experimental group (n=6) of student dentists received discrimination training and self-evaluation exercises on 4 waxing projects and 4 handpiece projects over 13 hours. An equivalent "conventional" group (n=7) received verbal feedback with models on 7 waxing projects over 13 hours. The experimental group outperformed the conventional…

Ten second graders with reading disabilities were presented with the visual analog of an auditory phonological training approach (intrasyllable discrimination) previously studied. Results indicated that children receiving the intervention significantly improved their phonological processing abilities. (SLD)

Identifies a function generator as an instrument that produces time-varying electrical signals of frequency, wavelength, and amplitude. Sending these signals to a speaker or a light-emitting diode can demonstrate how specific characteristics of auditory or visual stimuli relate to perceptual experiences. Provides specific instructions for using…

Background: Williams syndrome (WS) and Down syndrome (DS) are two neurodevelopmental genetically based disorders which exhibit mental retardation with a unique cognitive profile. Naming in individuals with WS and DS has been investigated in several studies, with results indicating that the performance of children with WS and DS is at a similar…

Three children with autism were taught to identify pictures of emotions in response to their spoken names. Their speed of acquisition was compared using a within-child alternating treatments design across three teaching conditions, each involving a 5 second delay to reinforcement. In the marked-before condition, an instruction encouraged the…

This paper examines children's responses to black and white illustrations in particular silhouettes. The study had two components; the first examined fifth graders' reactions to picture books using silhouette illustrations. The second part of the research analyzed students' responses when a dramatic context was used to view and respond to selected…

Research on adult memory for nonverbal representations has found a significant age-related decrement in performance. To investigate age differences in adult locational versus featural information in visual memory, 90 adult women (29 young women with a mean age of 21; 30 middle aged women with a mean age of 43; and 31 older women with a mean age of…

A study investigated the size of the perceptual span within which adults use visual information to distinguish among letters as they read. The eye movements of fifteen college students were monitored as they read passages from a cathode-ray tube. On occasional fixations, letters in specified visual regions were replaced by other letters. The…