Research is reviewed on the emotional and social needs of learning disabled students, including difficulties in understanding nonverbal communication, rejection by peers and others, impulsivity, pervasively negative moods, and difficulties in role-taking. Teacher education should increase emphasis on direct instruction of social skills and…

Compares the interactions of 20 firstborn and 17 lastborn children with their parents and siblings. Children were observed at home for five 45-minute sessions. Oldest children differed from youngest children in emitting more behaviors to parents than to siblings and in receiving more negative responses from parents and siblings. (Author/CB)

A social language program was designed for severely and multiply handicapped secondary students. Through role play, students are exposed to a range of functional activities: socially appropriate informal and formal greetings, socially appropriate language in different settings, language appropriate to group situations, and appropriate responses to…

Results of a study involving 60 children (3-5 years old) including neglected, abused, and nonmaltreated Ss showed that normal children with higher IQs were significantly better able to discriminate others' emotions from picture stories than the other children, who were not different from one another on any of the measures. (Author/CL)

Describes the College of St. Teresa's peace and justice education activities, including a weekly soup line, sponsorship of a Bread for the World chapter, student volunteer work, academic courses, pastoral team work, an Education for Peace and Justice Resource Center, Peace and Justice Days, and conferences. (LAL)

Describes the peace-oriented instructional materials and classroom activities developed by Pat Feller for use in her sixth-grade class. Discusses the adoption of these techniques in another Oregon Catholic school. (LAL)

The paper proposes that primary social relationships between child and caregiver are critical context for language learning and examines current assumptions about the nature of language and the processes involved in language learning, with particular attention to the effects of severe handicaps on the social processes underlying language…

This study examined the ways in which exposure to moral reasoning statements affected the subsequent behavioral choices of 144 seventh-, eighth- and ninth-grade boys at different stages of moral judgement. The presentation of reasoning had different effects on the behavioral choices of subjects at two different stages. (Author/SB)

First-, fourth-, seventh-, and eleventh-grade boys and girls were interviewed on the topic of deviant behavior among their peers. They were also asked to make deviance judgements on two story characters. The pattern of reaction to the stories was consistent with age-related shifts in the basis for deviant status. (Author/SB)

Examines some of the latest initiatives for improving environmental education. (Editor)

In this article, the author describes her experiences on an annual teacher-student bike excursion at Santa Barbara Middle School in California. The trip, while plagued with rain, allowed her to develop closer relationships with her students that extended into the classroom. These continuing relationships have led to the establishment of greater…

This study involved observation of 4- and 5-year-olds in a day care setting, focusing on how they developed and maintained friendships with other children in day care. Children were observed twice a day for 3 weeks as they engaged in outdoor play, dramatic play, and manipulative play. Observations included which children played with each other and…

This report is a summary of discussions that took place at the "Sound Off" Regional Rural Youth Dialogue on Employment, Education and Communication, held in Vernon, British Columbia, on January 14, 2006. This event was part of the Rural Dialogue, an ongoing, two-way discussion between the Government of Canada and Canadians from rural,…

This videotape explores the relationship between the child's social world and cognitive development. The first part of the video examines why the social environment is important to brain development. This section looks at the amount of time a child spends in a social environment, and the anatomy of the developing brain. The second part of the…

Study of the arts enhances young people's intellectual, personal, and social development. The arts provide a rich and engaging curriculum that develops students? abilities to think, reason, and understand the world and its cultures. A comprehensive arts education encompasses such areas as the history of the arts, the honing of critical-analysis…