Demonstrates how a school-based mental health program helps create a caring alternative high school, based on data gathered by shadowing students; interviewing students, teachers, staff, and counselors; reviewing documents; and observing group-counseling sessions. Findings indicate that counseling allows students to experience caring, when…

Parental activities such as attending cultural events, doing volunteer work, and socializing with friends are investigated in relation to the educational attainments of children. Differences are found between fathers' and mothers' activities and their effects on the attainments of boys and girls. Alternative explanations are considered. (EMK)

Longitudinally assessed Icelandic children at ages 7, 9, 12, and 15, and cross-sectionally assessed Chinese children at corresponding ages, concerning reasoning about choices, motives, and moral justifications of a protagonist in a sociomoral dilemma. Icelanders referred more often to self-interest and contractual concerns; Chinese focused on…

Studies of friendships in children with developmental disabilities have evolved primarily from the research on children with typical development. Children with developmental disabilities, however, present unique issues that warrant consideration such as measurement issues, developmental level, the etiology or type of disability, the experience and…

Examines caregiver attitudes toward toddler conflict and considers ways to facilitate conflict resolution to promote toddler growth, learning, and social development. Suggests that the ways caregivers intervene often do not promote resolution between children. Presents prevention and intervention strategies and discusses implications for practice…

A study compared the effectiveness of video modeling with in vivo modeling for teaching developmental skills to five children (ages 7-11) with autism. Targeted skills included social skills and daily living skills. Video modeling led to faster acquisition of tasks than in vivo modeling and was effective in promoting generalization. (Author/CR)

This article discusses the social interaction deficits of persons with Asperger Syndrome and describes a social behavioral learning strategy, SODA (Stop, Observe, Deliberate, and Act), that will enhance the social interaction skills of persons with Asperger Syndrome. It explains the components of SODA and provides a set of teaching guidelines.…

This article presents a conceptual model of the cognitive social bases of language derived from the philosophical view of constructionism and theoretical perspectives of speech act theory and relevance theory. The centrality of intent, modality and core issues of language, lack of construct validity in assessment, and heterogeneity are discussed.…

Discuses fear of failure (FF) in sports and physical education, reviewing literature on FF, recommending a multidimensional model of FF appraisals, examining research on the development of FF, and emphasizing three interpersonal paths of influence: family structure and climate, parental demands for independence and mastery, and parent-child…

Describes types of puppets, including finger, glove, hand, shadow, marionette, and mechanical. Gives reasons for using puppets with children ages two through seven, including enhancing language and thinking skills. Explains how teachers can introduce tough issues such as AIDS and abuse through puppetry. Details a sequence of activities for…

Explores pediatric and child psychiatric research covering five areas of potential biological and social risk to infants and children in orphanage care, specifically, infectious morbidity, nutrition, growth, cognitive and socioaffective development, and physical and sexual abuse. Results showed that institutionalization in early childhood…

The attachments of adolescents to their parents and their associations with personality and social relations were studied for 112 college students and 90 of their friends. Attachment to mother was related to the quality and quantity of daily interactions, but father-child relationship was related to interaction quality only. (SLD)

This study used an ABAB design to determine if a peer buddy approach in which kindergarten students were trained to interact in dyads would increased non-adult direct interactions. Data collected on the two kindergarten students with autism indicate the peer buddy approach significantly increased their appropriate social interactions. (Contains…

This article describes a special education preschool program that included four children without disabilities to serve as peer models to the eight children with disabilities. Results indicate that the peer models made a positive contribution to the program, as measured by their interactions with children with disabilities. (Contains references.)…

Temperament development was studied in 39 full-term small-for-gestational-age infants and 30 full-term appropriate-for-gestational-age infants. Temperament was measured at 4, 8, and 12 months of age using a behavioral assessment procedure and questionnaire ratings. Findings indicated that restricted fetal growth negatively affects infant…