Studied how early treatment affected the development of a sample of 30 Down syndrome babies incorporated into the study at different ages. Found that development quotients descended significantly at 18 months of age as the period in treatment shortened. (AJH)

Examines relationships between child and adult art, proposing an exploration of meanings of children's art activity by examining relationships between art-making and other activities of the same developmental period. The paper posits some basic human needs and considers how various activities might serve as instrumentalities to realize such goals.…

Cites contemporary applications of Thoreau's belief that wild places were a source of inspiration containing the "raw material of life" and that "to the extent a culture, or an individual, lost contact with wildness it became weak and dull." Makes a case for the employment of outdoor recreation educators by schools to teach…

Discusses the underutilization of computerized systems in human services practitioners' work and presents the Graphical Case Record, developed at a child development center in Israel, as a computerized interface congruent with practitioner work style, supportive of professional treatment standards, and easy to use. (Author/LRW)

Investigated developmental change and patterns of individual differences in dimensions of infant temperament. Rothbart Infant Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ) was completed for subjects 5 times between 6 weeks and 30 months of age. Interpretable age changes were found for emotional reactivity, but not for the index of regulation (IBQ soothability).…

Ratings on the Autism Behavior Checklist for 18 children (ages 9-16) with normal intelligence and infantile autism or infantile autism, residual state, revealed that all subjects met the cutoff score for autism or borderline autism on retrospective ratings, but 14 received current ratings below the cutoff. The Autism Diagnostic Interview ruled out…

Assigned two types of learning activities to facilitate child development students' critical thinking. Regardless of type of assignment, students increased their self-ratings of personal attributes; type of assignment did have differential effects, with general experiences providing more changes in educational values and self-confidence, and…

Explored how research can be useful for improving day-care quality. Studied relationship of pedagogic content and parent policy to day-care center aims, finding a strong relationship between special goals and quality standards. Suggested that improvement requires context-bound theories and a stronger theoretical framework for working with groups…

This special issue presents papers on socialization and individual development in Mexico and West Africa and among Mexican Americans and African Americans in the United States. Explains cross-cultural influences on development and highlights conflicts between the values of different cultures. Examines some implications of the ideas presented in…

The relationships of test consequence, motivation, anxiety, and performance were studied with 158 undergraduates taking a child development course. Results indicated that test consequence (grade or no grade) had a strong influence on motivation and a modest influence on performance. Motivation and anxiety had opposite effects on performance. (SLD)

Describes a cognitive intervention package for increasing self-control and decreasing primary nocturnal enuresis in young children. The package consists of five gradual steps directed toward changing maladaptive habits, helping the child to understand the enuresis process, increase bladder control, develop self-control, and eliminate enuresis.…

A group of 16 infants (ages 6 to 24 months) with Down's Syndrome (DS) were exposed to two operant learning tasks varying in control of reinforcement. Comparison with chronological and developmental age matched controls found DS subjects characterized by increasing adoption of counterproductive learning behaviors with increasing age. (Author/DB)

Examined young children's social play for length of play episodes, use of communicative strategies, and complexity of play. Concluded that children spontaneously constructed shared meaning during interactive play from their shared knowledge about everyday activities and by responding to and building on their partner's ideas as the play unfolded.…

The development of early vocalizations was investigated with 13 infants who had Down's syndrome and 27 infants developing normally, at bimonthly intervals from 4 to 18 months of age. Both groups demonstrated increased production of mature syllables over time as well as large variations in vocal development, both within and across groups and across…

Summarizes researchers' beliefs about cognitive development. Topics include (1) the child as constructive thinker; (2) new research methods; (3) the characterization of children's cognitive development; (4) estimates of children's competence; (5) stages of development; (6) interrelations among developmental skills; (7) mechanisms of development;…