One longitudinal and one cross-sectional study evaluated the interactive effects of endogenous and exogenous influences on infants' attention allocation by assessing the role of target familiarity on distraction latency during object exploration. Findings indicated that 9- and 10-month-olds, but not 6.5-month- olds, exhibited longer latencies as…

This article addresses educational challenges for children with severe to profound hearing loss who receive cochlear implants. Despite the implants, these children face acoustic challenges, academic challenges, attention challenges, associative challenges, and adjustment challenges. (Contains references.) (Author/DB)

A short-term cognitive mediation training intervention program designed to alter the social-cognitive basis for aggressive behavior of adolescent aggression offenders was found to increase social problem-solving skills, reduce endorsement of beliefs supporting aggression, and reduce aggressive, impulsive, and inflexible behavior. (RH)

The study examined the developmental lag hypothesis for learning disabilities by evaluating dichotic listening ability using both free recall and directed attention conditions in 24 learning disabled (LD) adults. Findings indicated LD adults showed similar deficits in lateralized selective auditory linguistic processing as children with LD. (DB)

Examined age-related changes in visual selective attention--ability to resist interference--in children 5 to 12 years old and adults. The interference effect on stimulus evaluation did not discriminate between age groups; however, the interference effect on correct response activation showed a pronounced age-related reduction, suggesting a…

This study used saccadic eye movements to assess visuospatial attention in 53 normal children (ages 8-15). Saccadic latency, the ability to suppress extraneous saccades during fixation, and the ability to inhibit task-provoked anticipatory saccades all improved with age. Developmental patterns varied by task. Analyses of age-related changes may be…

The article reviews research on children's use of time with emphasis on maintaining "engagement" (developmentally and contextually appropriate behavior). Techniques for preschool teachers to use to promote high levels of engagement by children with or without disabilities are identified. (DB)

Because all children with autism are deficient in joint attentional skills (ability to direct and maintain shared attention with another individual), this article reviews the literature on joint attention, its relationship other language rule systems, and its development in typical children. A case study illustrates the developmental course of…

The Auditory Continuous Performance Test (ACPT) was evaluated with 12 children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and 11 children without ADHD. The study found that the ACPT has acceptable specificity but very low sensitivity and thus cannot currently be recommended as a screening test for ADHD. (Author/DB)

Examined exogenous orienting among infants between 7 and 21 weeks of age in 2 experiments using display with multiple potential attention targets. Found that as early as 7 weeks of age, sensitivity for a small moving stimulus can be significantly influenced by the simultaneous presence of competing attention targets. Found large increases in…

Fourteen mother-child dyads involving preschool children with autism and 14 matched dyads of typically developing children and mothers were observed during free play. Mothers of autistic children directed verbalizations to something within the child's focus of attention as often as other mothers. They directed verbalizations to something not…

The signed and spoken language produced by 14 mothers (7 deaf and 7 hearing) to their 18-month-old deaf children was analyzed. Deaf mothers were more successful in presenting signed utterances with a salient context visible to their children. For both groups, visible and salient signed utterances were positively correlated with mothers' success in…

Examined distractibility during visual fixations in 6- to 24-month-olds. Found that latency to turn toward a distractor was a function of length of look before distractor onset. Immediately before onset, children had greater sustained lowered heart rate for trials on which they continued looking at television monitor than for trials on which they…

This study compared visual attention in 18 prelingually deaf children (half with cochlear implants and half with hearing aids) and 10 normal hearing children. Unlike previous studies, children in all three groups performed similarly on a continuous-performance visual attention task and on a letter cancellation task. Only age and nonverbal…

Leisure items (e.g., games, toys) are commonly made available as controls during attention conditions of functional analyses (Ringdahl, Winborn, Andelman, & Kitsukawa, 2002). However, Ringdahl et al. raised questions about this practice. This paper reviews research that supports and conflicts with the inclusion of leisure items as controls,…