Although it has been estimated that 28,000,000 Americans may be children of alcoholics, these individuals have only recently been given serious attention by researchers and clinicians. Empirical studies pertaining to the effects of having alcoholic parents were reviewed and several clusters of characteristics were derived from the findings: (1)…

Four separate bibliographies list references regarding infants with such disabilities as blindness, visual impairments, mental retardation, and Down Syndrome. Citations listed include journal articles, books, manuals, and other publications. The first bibliography lists 24 references regarding blindness or visual impairments in infants and ways to…

This paper discusses the implications of changes in the family environment on child development. Changes identified concern increases in the number and percentage of children who live in poverty, maternal employment in two-parent families, single-parent families, and the number of children in nonparental child care. Characteristics of poverty for…

This set of newsletters presents a developmental perspective on gifted students from preschoolers to adolescents. Included are such regular columns as "The Hidden Gifted Learner,""Parenting the Gifted,""Instructional Strategies,""Creative Ventures and Encounters,""The Reading Room" (a book review column), "Personality Plus,""Adolescent…

This study investigated whether academic achievement (as reflected on report cards) would have an effect upon children's self-esteem. Subjects were 46 third- and 40 sixth-grade students. Thirty of the third-graders and 28 of the sixth-graders completed Harter's Self-Perception Profile 2 weeks before report cards were distributed and again the week…

A description is given of an ongoing collaborative research effort consisting of a series of studies with 3- to 5-year-old children, designed for the purpose of: (1) identifying factors contributing to motor learning/performance during the development years, i.e., psychological, sociological, and experiential variables; (2) determining the…

To examine the effects of paternal unemployment on young children, a study was conducted using a sample of 28 primarily white, working-class, intact families with a child aged 3 to 6. Half of the children were boys and half were girls; 16 fathers were working and 12 were jobless. Among the child variables assessed were verbal intelligence,…

This practicum report was designed to help child development students differentiate between the preoperational and concrete operational stages of the Piagetian cognitive hierarchy. The 36 on-campus and 63 instructional television students used a Piagetian Game booklet, which is included in the appendix. Using this booklet, students were able to…

This paper discusses CEDEN's Parent-Child Program (PCP) and its external evaluation. The program promotes healthy child development among multi-problem, predominantly young families living at or below the poverty level in Austin, Texas. The goals of the PCP are to teach low-income parents in a culturally appropriate manner to encourage their…

A balanced appraisal of holistic scoring of writing is presented via: examination of the present popularity of holistic scoring; analysis of several weaknesses associated with the holistic scoring method; and recommendations for remedying these weaknesses. Six reasons for the popularity of holistic scoring are: (1) relative lack of expense; (2)…

These papers focus on four themes: (1) young children: active learners; (2) physical education: the forgotten aspect of early childhood education; (3) dance: bringing movement as art into the early childhood curriculum; and (4) the child as an energetic, moving learner. Common threads of emphasis were woven through the content of the…

The Early Childhood Language Centered Intervention Program of the New York City Public Schools was designed to provide classroom instruction and transportation for preschool children with primary and secondary speech/language handicaps, and to train parents to participate in the education of these children. Using individual education plans (IEPs),…

This correspondence course was designed to help parents better understand their growing children and themselves as parents. The introduction briefly sketches the importance of the family in child development. Each of the five illustrated lessons contains 7 to 12 pages on one aspect of family life. Each lesson contains a set of objectives, a…

What first graders chose to put in their journals when given no direct suggestions for topics was studied during the 1985-86 school year in a suburban Birmingham, Alabama, classroom. Journal writing was scheduled for 30 minutes daily throughout the school year, but not all children chose to write every day. At the end of the year, all of the…

A study examined whether the basic skills performances of children in the primary grades were responsive to their inferencing abilities. It was hypothesized that the three components (informational, causal, and evaluative) of the second and third grade inferencing abilities tests would constitute a hierarchy of inferencing and that the impact of…