Relationships between intellectual giftedness and performance within Piagetian stages of 673 gifted students (10-16 years old) were investigated. Results showed that intellectually superior children out- performed children of normal ability at all age levels. Intellectually superior Ss out-performed bright-normal Ss at lower ages, but no…

The article reviews experimental data on the deleterious effects of environmental lead and cadmium on cognitive functioning of children. (CL)

Nongifted students (N=25) were slightly more curious than gifted Ss. Gifted boys displayed a greater curiosity level than gifted girls, whereas nongifted girls expressed slightly greater curiosity than nongifted boys; in both cases, no significant differences were found. Curiosity items rated the highest were associated with novelty, unknown…

The article presents a summary of the cognitive difficulties often encountered when a multidisciplinary team attempts to manage children with spina bifida. Suggestions for intervention and program planning are presented. A model for team management incorporating medical, allied health, and psychosocial professionals is presented. (Author/CL)

Epstein (1974) claims evidence for regular two-year growth spurts in the development of brain and mind, a phenomenon he calls phrenoblysis. Unfortunately, repeated analysis of the data he presents as proof of his theory provides no support. (Author/RH)

The study investigated the relationship of early language development and symbolic play behaviors in 20 normal and 20 trainable mentally retarded children. Symbolic play which involves the use of one object to represent another was found to be a strong correlate of early language development. (Author/CL)

Thirty-eight children hospitalized because of physical abuse were compared with a control group. Abuse Ss had significantly lower mean scores than the comparison children on the verbal, performance and full scale scores of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Revised and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence. (Author/CL)

The paper argues that the criterion form-referenced (CFR) concept contradicts the philosophy and definition of mainstreaming, whereas a cognitive conceptualization constitutes a more appropriate framework for designing and assessing mainstreaming. Learning from a cognitive perspective that emphasizes self-regulation is reviewed. Specific examples…

Proposes, as an alternative to Sokolovian models, a model of early habituation based on selective adaptation of feature detectors. The model suggests that early habituation is attributable to the organization and immaturity of the young infant's visual system. (RH)

The study of blind children's (ages 3-9) memory of objects was invested with personalized meaning related to previous encounters with the objects. The language they used reflected that experience and their form of mental representation rather than their knowledge of the language used by sighted people. (CL)

A pilot study in which four postsecondary students with learning problems participated in sessions modeled after R. Feuerstein's theory of cognitive modifiability (instrumental enrichment) indicated the potential power of the Feuerstein method to improve learning disabled students' cognitive skills. (CL)

Collections, the referents of collective nouns, differ from classes in how membership can be determined, part-whole relationships, internal structure, and the nature of the higher order units they form. Three experiments dealt with these differences as related to the concept formation of primary school children. (BW)

Describes various research projects pertaining to the permanence of intellectual retardation brought on by malnutrition in young children. Concludes that there is strong encouragement for complete intellectual rehabilitation of the malnourished child if intellectually rich environmental settings are available to the child. (SL)

Competing explanations of the beneficial effect of spacing in retardate discrimination learning were tested. Results are inconsistent with consolidation and rehearsal theories but support the prediction of the Geber, Greenfield, and House spacing model that forgetting from short-term memory facilities retardate learning. (Author/SB)

This paper suggests that all life is polar because polarity is the underlying context of life. The idea of polarity is based on two halves that originally belonged together to form a whole. These two halves are constantly trying to come together to regain their wholeness. The philosophical view of crisis presented in this paper is that the…