The history of epidemiological studies of mental retardation in childhood was reviewed to determine the amount of agreement on prevalence rates; the review showed a decreasing trend over the past 30 years. Reasons are provided to explain these falling rates as well as the lower prevalence rates in adults than in children. (Author/PB)

States that the term "mentoring" has been misused and that the definition has arisen from popular consensus rather than from formal definitions and empirical verification. Proposes a formal definition of mentoring. Also examines methodological approaches to mentoring research and suggests how to investigate this domain creatively. (Author/CH)

Discusses the meaning of deaf culture with reference to the views of other specialists in the field. The author observes that he is not floating a rival analysis of the constituents of Deaf culture; attempting to relabel phenomena; searching for the definition; claiming that the idea of deaf cultures is either qualitatively or quantitatively…

Provides an overview of the use of models in instructional design. Highlights include a definition of the term model; types of models, including conceptual, procedural, mathematical, and prescriptive; procedures for model development; classification of models in the literature; and alternative techniques for model validation. (Contains 38…

This paper argues against definitions of stuttering which imply that all within-word disfluencies are stuttering and no between-word disfluencies are stuttering. The paper calls for a definition of stuttering that is not contradicted by available empirical information or clinical experience and is logically consistent. (JDD)

Discusses whether "kategorija ostojanija" (category of state) should be considered as a part of speech in Russian, proposes a definition of the term "part of speech," and suggests that short adjectives and impersonal nonverbal predicatives be viewed as a single part of speech with personal and impersonal subtypes like Russian verbs. (21…

Three of the most important questions asked of leadership are: what is it? why is it important? and what are its conditions? This article examines all three questions from each of four sociological paradigms: the structural-functionalist, political-conflict, constructivist, and critical-humanist perspectives. (64 references) (MLH)

Argues for expanded definitions of "creative writing" and the "creative writer." Shows how recent theories of creativity with an emphasis on problem finding can enhance composition pedagogy. (SR)

Defines virtual reality as a particular type of experience (in terms of "presence" and "telepresence") rather than as a collection of hardware. Maintains that media technologies can be classified and studied in terms of vividness and interactivity, two attributes on which virtual reality ranks very high. (SR)

Asserts that changing writing "laboratories" into writing "centers" suggests in the word "centeredness" some of the best things a writing center can be in its sense of purpose and community; and, in the word "centrism," a few of the problems that writing centers may be heading for in its suggestions of monopoly and self-importance. (PRA)

Discusses the debate that has occurred within the ranks of adult basic education administrators and teachers concerning the practice of defining literacy by grade levels. Offers the definitions developed by Tennessee for specific reading and math proficiency skills. (JOW)

Describes a writing assignment in which students write an essay employing lexical, etymological, and connotative definitions. (SR)

Clarifies concept of family life education by using methods of analytical inquiry. Systematically examines two essential features of family life education concept (general purpose/intended outcome and subject matter/content) and of the meaning of the word "education." Also clarifies distinction between family life education and other…

The Division on Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (MRDD) of the Council for Exceptional Children adopted this position statement concerning the revised American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR) definition of mental retardation. The position statement views the revised mental retardation definition and classification as a…

The lack of a common understanding of the construct of creative thinking is noted, and the cognitive spiral model is presented, which conceptualizes creative thinking as an integral component of all cognitive processing. This article details the synthesis of a definition and the structure of a model of cognitive processing. (Author/DB)