Language delay and impairment are salient features of autism. More specifically, there is evidence of atypical semantic organization in autism, but the functional brain correlates are not well understood. The current study used functional MRI to examine activation associated with semantic category decision. Ten high-functioning men with autism…

Noting the general lack of research on handwriting instruction, a study examined hand and eye dominance, hand positions, and handwriting production of children. Subjects were 310 children from grades one through five in classrooms of regular children, mainstreamed team teaching classrooms, and self-contained gifted classes in a large elementary…

This paper describes a series of preliminary and a double blind study on crossed visual laterality and reading difficulties in children. Preliminary studies investigated handedness, eye preference, and ear preference in a total of 196 third and fifth grade students. About 42 percent of the tested students were identified with the Monahan/DeYoung…

Identifies three main strengths of Casey's spatial ability model, but notes that a study by McKeever found different results concerning the relationship between familial handedness and females' mental rotation ability. Considers the use of a familial handedness measure to be a weakness of the model because handedness might not be an inherited…

Evaluated measures of infant cognitive development in 208 pairs of twins at 7, 8, and 9 months of age. Results contributed to the growing evidence of stability in intellectual development from infancy. (RH)

Verbal and musical stimuli were presented to infants in a study of the relations of evoked potential left-right amplitude asymmetries to gender and hand preference. There was a relation between asymmetry and hand preference, and for girls, between asymmetry and stimulus condition. Results suggest a gender difference in cerebral hemisphere…

Evaluated 9-, 14-, and 19-month olds' strategies as they grasped and used spoons presented with the handle alternately oriented to left or right. Found that younger children reached with their preferred hand, disregarding the item's orientation. Older children anticipated the problem, alternated the hand used, and achieved an efficient radial grip…

Contrary to the beliefs of many, right-handedness is not a single factor existing in almost all people, with a few exceptions termed left-handed: neither extreme exists independently of the other. During the first 4 years of life there is a period of fluctuation between right and left-handed dominance. Statistics and findings vary in determining…

This book is written to support parents and practitioners who wish to understand movement and how it contributes to all aspects of learning--intellectual, social and emotional, as well as the movement/motor aspect itself. Moreover, as there is a huge increase in the number of children with movement learning difficulties (Keen, 2001), that is…

This literature review examines the research on the use of right and left hands in the reading of braille. Results suggest that right-handed people may read braille more accurately with the left hand. Studies have also found differences between girls and boys and changes over the developmental period. (DB)

The relationship between creative thought processes and hemispheric asymmetry was examined in 47 right-handed male undergraduates. Four factors were identified, accounting for 75 percent of the total variance: Verbal Divergent Thinking Factor, Nonverbal Divergent Thinking Factor, Convergent Verbal Search Factor, and Cognitive Complexity Factor.…

The present study provides evidence that individuals who have different patterns of cerebral lateralization and who develop along different maturational time courses can attain comparable levels of language proficiency. Right-handed individuals with left-handed family members (left-handed familials, LHFs) showed a shorter sensitive period for…

In an Internet study unrelated to handedness, 134,317 female and 120,783 male participants answered a graded question as to which hand they preferred for writing. This allowed determination of hand preference patterns across 7 ethnic groups. Sex differences in left-handedness were found in 4 ethnic groups, favoring males, while no significant sex…

Notes Halpern's general support for Casey's model. Addresses differences in Casey's and McKeever's findings on familial handedness and females' spatial ability by performing another experiment in which data are analyzed according to two different theoretical assumptions. Addresses the question of the heritability of handedness by noting that what…

This survey of 616 Canadian high-school adolescents suggests that light and mild head injury is almost 10 times as common as hospital-reported incidence. The study found significant relationships between reported head injury and hyperactivity, stuttering, mixed handedness, and dislike of mathematics. (Author/JDD)