Examined the relationship between maternal praise and task performance of children ages 10 months to 4 years and 10 months. Found that children improved their performance as they grew older and that mothers praised the highest level of performance more often than the lower levels. Praise to older children referred to only the performance and not…

Clarified the developmental processes of awareness of relationships between duration, distance, and speed relative to linear movement. Children began with near awareness of the direct relationships between duration and distance and distance and speed. However, correct grasp of these direct relationships seemed to strengthen an incorrect grasp of…

Presents activities and games to teach students in grades K-6 how to throw and catch correctly. Because throwing and catching are developmental skills, teachers must pay attention to them, and students must practice them repeatedly. Activities are presented by grade level because children's skills vary between (and within) grades. (SM)

Examined stages of drug use acquisition among college students (n=669) and relationship between stage status and motivation to avoid drugs and frequency of drug use. College students differed with regard to their stage of habit acquisition across five drugs. Findings suggest that acquisition stage heuristic holds promise in increasing…

Explores notion that adolescence is developmental stage, and, therefore, adolescent work values should be seen within this context. Considers such a developmental approach useful in reconciling some discrepancies in literature on adolescent work values. Discusses time perspective and activity, two variables that may help explain development of…

Examination of the child prodigy phenomenon suggests it is a result of extremely accelerated mental development during sensitive periods that leads to the rapid growth of a child's cognitive resources and their construction into specific exceptional achievements. (Author/DB)

Explores the concept of lost pleasure of life for persons who become disabled, using Havighurst's developmental model. Highlights the importance of vocational rehabilitation for employment and life satisfaction. Reviews litigation and expert psychological testimony in cases claiming loss of pleasure. (SK)

Presents five questions to consider before making a decision about a child's kindergarten placement. The questions focus on how mature the child is, what the pediatrician and teacher say, whether the child likes to learn, whether the child is large or small for his/her age, and what other families do. (SM)

Discusses the Montessori method. Evolves a new vision of the school based on Montessori principles and addresses the anxieties felt during times of transition as part of the natural growth process. Claims that these transitions are cyclical, and affect more than just the children--they also create concern for teachers, parents, and administrators.…

Two graduate student groups (n=7 and n=6) used both computerized groups support systems and traditional methods to complete collaborative tasks. The progress and stages of development of one group was erratic, whereas the other evolved into a high-performance group. Technology reduced some group conflict but had little impact on group development.…

A narrative approach can eliminate the shortcomings of stage and phase models of adult development. Narrative is based on constructivist epistemology and central to human meaning making. Time and narrative are integrally related; narrative is historical and can be understood as interpretation of life stories. Individual and cultural narratives are…

This study compared the prelinguistic vocal development of 30 9- month-old babies with unrepaired cleft palate and age-matched peers (N=15). Fewer of the babies with cleft palate had reached the canonical babbling stage (57 percent versus 93 percent) and had smaller consonant inventories. However, syllable types and length and number of…

Three developmental connectionist models simulate a purported shift from "featural" to "correlational" processing in infant categorization (models: Gureckis & Love, 2004/this issue; Shultz & Cohen, 2004/this issue; Westermann & Mareschal, 2004/this issue; empirical data: Cohen & Arthur, 2003; Younger, 1985; Younger & Cohen, 1986). In this article,…

A well-known characteristic of children with specific language impairment (SLI) is a significant deficit in grammatical morphology production compared with younger, language-matched, typically developing children. This is true for present tense be (am, is, are), as well as other inflectional morphemes. However, grammatical morpheme learning by…

When middle schools align themselves with high schools, the educational and developmental transition of early adolescents succeeds. Begin the work of transitioning sooner and high schools will spend less time acclimating students to the demands of high school and more time teaching new material. This article discusses the importance of aligning…