Young adults (N=277) with and without learning disabilities or emotional or behavioral disorders were interviewed regarding their school and post-drop out experiences. Findings indicate that factors such as disability status, when individuals drop out, and self-perspectives influence education participation. Strategies for helping students who…

A study examined theory of mind acquisition in 34 children (ages 5- 10) with deafness using four traditional false-belief tasks. Results indicate the age of the child was strongly related to theory of mind development and that the children were delayed by approximately 3 years in this cognitive developmental milestone. (Contains references.)…

This article reviews the varied components of written language, suggest informal means for written language assessment, and summarizes the cognitive and linguistic factors that influence varied aspects of writing performance. Two informal evaluation scales are presented that stress the interconnection between oral and written language processes.…

This commentary documents errors in the statistical analyses and interpretation of empirical evidence in "The Bell Curve" by R. Herrnstein and C. Murray (1994). "The Bell Curve" neglects the role of education and grossly overstates the case for IQ as a determinant of social success. (SLD)

Compared 5-, 8-, and 11-year-olds and young adults on 6 speeded performance tasks, 4 requiring an inhibition of response activation. Analyzed reaction and inhibition times; found support for hypothesis of generalized developmental changes in response activation, but revealed less pronounced development of inhibition. Concluded that a nonselective…

Compares the search features and retrieval performance of three search engines for children: "Yahooligans!,""Ask Jeeves for Kids," and "Super Snooper" on identical searches. Retrieval performance criteria of the three engines included: retrieval output, relevance, overlap in results, and redundancy. Results shed light…

Three adults with intellectual and visual disabilities were taught vocationally relevant tasks through the use of a self-operated verbal instruction system. Data showed that during the training all participants achieved percentages of correct task performance exceeding 90. Use of instructional clusters was effective in maintaining high levels of…

Determined the effects of classroom music instruction featuring the keyboard on the spatial-temporal reasoning of 62 kindergartners assigned to keyboard or no music conditions. Found that the keyboard group scored significantly higher than the no music group on both spatial-temporal tasks after 4 months of lessons, a difference that was greater in…

A study investigated whether 44 students (ages 11-19) with mild mental retardation demonstrated more self-determination behaviors in regular classrooms than in resource classrooms. Results indicate that these students demonstrated more self-determination behaviors in resource classrooms. Implications for self-determination instruction and…

SafePort is a residential substance abuse treatment program within public housing to provide drug treatment to parenting women in Key West, Florida. All family members--women, children, and significant others--receive comprehensive assessments to determine appropriate therapeutic interventions. Preliminary evaluation findings suggest that women…

Examined phonological processing in a Chinese reading test and on several phonological processing tasks. Found that younger normal and poor readers of Chinese made more semantic and visual errors, whereas older and normally achieving children made more phonologically related errors. Normally achieving readers also performed better than poor…

A qualitative study investigated the role of motivation in academic achievement by gifted secondary students in five Australian schools. Results found that "personal pleasure in achievement and long-term goals" was the most significant motivational factor, positive links with a teacher was a high occurrence factor, and competitive…

In early December 2005, the School District of Philadelphia announced that, for the fourth consecutive year, students showed measurable improvement on standardized, nationally normed TerraNova tests. The school's good performance was induced by a well managed instructional program that includes data-driven instruction and decision-making…

The authors examine the college conditions that contribute to character development, using data from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). (Contains 4 tables and 5 figures.)

Child and Youth Care (CYC) workers use the natural living and learning environment to create therapeutic experiences for young people with emotional and behavioral problems. Originally working in the therapeutic milieu of residential settings, CYC workers now operate in family, community, and school-based prevention and treatment programs. This…