A study involving 26 Taiwanese children (ages 6-12) with autism and 52 controls found scores on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test were significantly higher for controls for categories completed and percent conceptual level. Scores on perseverative responses, perseverative errors, and non-perseverative errors were higher for those with autism.…

Investigates the application of a non-hierarchical leadership model at an urban public research university. Balances discussions of the values on which the program under review is based with descriptions of the practical structure of the program. Concludes with a discussion of the program's effects on students' cognitive and social development.…

A study examined mothers' perceptions of the toy play of their 57 preschoolers (ages 2-5) with intellectual disabilities. The majority reported children not only engaged in appropriate play with toys, but engaged in advanced levels of play. Mothers also reported children would play with toys for extended periods of time. (Contains references.)…

A study examined the extent to which different measures of speech reading performance correlated with cognitive abilities in 18 adults with hearing impairments. Younger participants were better speech readers and speech tracking correlated with written lexical decision speed. Speech reading for sentence comprehension correlated most strongly with…

Investigated intervention effects on mental models of multivariable causality in middle school students involved in inquiry learning. Found that inquiry learning promoted a correct mental model based on additive effects of individual features and a meta-strategic understanding of the need to control influences of other features. Also found…

Three hypotheses were tested about how children and adults construct intuitive models when encountering a new property. Causal models showed that 10-, 13-, and 19-year-olds transferred principles from familiar property to novel property. None used default model. Younger children's models were affected by domain. Findings suggest that the transfer…

Examined in 2 studies 3- to 7-year-olds and adults' connecting a person's current feelings to past experience. Found that even 3-year-olds demonstrated knowledge about connections between past events and present emotions. Children 5 years and younger revealed cogent understanding in explaining why someone who experienced a previous negative event…

Examined the relationship between poverty and children's developmental outcomes, the effects of the timing and duration of poverty, and the effects of poverty at the family and neighborhood level, analyzing data from two longitudinal surveys. Found that poverty status was strongly related to low levels of cognitive development, even after…

Two experiments examined the development of children's understanding of part-whole relations. Found that five- and six-year olds evidenced understanding of part-whole relations, but four-year olds did not. Results support the conclusion that an understanding of the relationship between a superordinate set and the basic-level sets that comprise it…

Suggests that the study of microdevelopment offers a potentially powerful way to relate learning and development where similar changes occur but in differing time frames. Microdevelopment analyzes short-term changes as developmental functions. Individuals and groups function at widely different developmental levels and grow in diverse nonlinear…

Nonuniversal theory can be used to reframe the learning-development dichotomy into a spectrum of important changes, ranging from small-scale learning events to large-scale developmental shifts. Using the universal-to-unique continuum as an organizing framework, several change mechanisms can be identified as necessary for movement through…

Presents two charts designed by Maria Montessori to illustrate the four planes of development. Claims that Montessori's meticulously researched commentary signals an emerging organic vision of the developmental continuum from birth to adulthood that is relevant to the educational needs of our time. (MOK)

Presents the rationale for and the results of a pilot study attempting to document in detail how automatization takes place as the result of different kinds of intensive practice. Results show that reaction times and error rates gradually decline with practice, and the practice effect is skill-specific. (36 references) (CK)

Claims that children have a natural curiosity for their environment. Describes children's interaction and involvement in an activity with different kinds of insects in a Head Start classroom. Encourages parents to allow children to investigate without being too preoccupied with concerns for order or cleanliness. (MOK)

Examines the social cognitive content of two well-known fairy stories, "Rumpelstiltskin" and "Little Red Riding Hood." Focuses on the internal state vocabulary contained in the stories, the language that refers to intentions, cognitions, and feeling states and the demands they place on children's ability to attribute…