This is a study of how young children gain social competence through pretend play or role playing. Subjects were 38 Caucasian children (19 females, 19 males) who were observed at four ages: 12, 18, 24 and 30 months. The same set of toys, which included a doll, a saucepan, doll bottles, coffee mug, teacup, teaspoon, doll crib, blanket, toy phone…

Two types of information that should condition federal decisions about day care are summarized. These include data concerning the supply and demand for day care and the effects of day care on children's development. (Author)

The paper analyzes the expectations and potential of a comprehensive education curriculum for the severely and profoundly handicapped. (CL)

A refresher course on the needs of children with special abilities was organized for New Zealand primary teachers. The course covered identifying pupils' needs; organizing programs within the classroom, school, and community; understanding the child's social and emotional needs; and examining philosophical issues in providing for individual…

A survey of 612 extremely gifted adolescents attending the Talent Identification Program identified three groups: (1) academically oriented; (2) socially oriented; and (3) highly motivated-gregarious. The tendency among gifted females to be more social and gregarious and better balanced between social and achievement interests than males warrants…

Collateral teaching offers an alternative to using commercially prepared social skills programs for learning-disabled students, by enabling teachers to instruct social skills that are required of their students as opportunities arise in normal contexts. Strategies for instructing social skills include coaching, modeling, reinforcement, cognitive…

Reviews Jay Belsky's "The 'Effects' of Infant Day Care Reconsidered," and offers a different conclusion: that the mother's attitudes toward the infant and toward her employment status may mediate day care effects on attachment and aggression. (SKC)

Reviews the literature on some of the major ways that parents and teachers influence the development of prosocial tendencies in children; they include child-rearing practices, social cognition, mood, modeling, and training. Also provides suggestions for parents and teachers to help children behave prosocially. (Author/BB)

Examines the varieties, tensions, and functions of friendship as described by 32 high school juniors in open-ended interviews. Findings revealed considerable tension between popularity as public comportment and friendship as private communication. Illustrates and examines two modes of violating trust, revealing a secret and backstabbing, and…

Lists are provided of computer software for use by persons (elementary school through adult) with social learning deficits to increase competence in (1) personal and social awareness and skill; (2) business and career competencies; and (3) leisure time and sports activity, which often fosters human relations and communication skill. (VW)

Reports on a comparative study of nursery school children in the United States and Italy. Identifies and discusses the importance of basic routines in the peer culture of young children for the development of communication skills and social knowledge. Explores the possibilities of universal features in young children's peer cultures and develops…

This paper presents the individual's life span trajectory as a unique construction within a unique context for that individual's interactional and adaptive self-regulatory strategies. Issues of adaptive coordination between caregiver and infant are discussed, and five propositions concerning individual development summarize the work. (Author/JDD)

Compares 27 children with early onset diabetes (EOD) with 24 children with late onset diabetes (LOD) and 30 sibling controls in performance on tests of intellectual functioning and school achievement. Results revealed that duration of illness, age of onset, and hypoglycemic convulsions significantly predicted spatial ability. (Author/RWB)

Describes the characteristics of play and its contributions to development, and proposes fundamental principles and practices for its encouragement. Delineates the necessity of play and affirms its centrality in the lives of all children. Stresses both teacher and parental roles in providing a safe and calalytic play environment. (Author/RWB)

Discusses the value of diagnostic classification systems to counseling professionals. Describes the Ecological Diagnostic Classification Plan, an approach to diagnosis that includes the environment as a possible cause of pathology and target of intervention. (Author/KS)