A study involving 27,908 children (age 10) found that children with very low birth weight born to mothers with low maternal education are at high risk of receiving special education services; however, the largest percentage of children receiving special education had the single risk factor of low maternal education. (Author/CR)

A study of 135 Chinese mothers of children with mental retardation found higher levels of belief on the Confucian Doctrine Scales was associated with lower level of maternal stress. Lower-functioning children were associated with higher levels of stress, as well as perceptions of neighbors' negative attitudes toward their child. (Author/CR)

The contributions of peer acceptance, friendship, social status, and age relative to mixed-age classmates to children's' attitudes toward school and to achievement in ungraded primary school were studied with 323 ungraded elementary school students. Attitudes toward school were positively related to achievement scores. Predictive variables are…

Describes nature of first-grade transition and studies investigating how children's schooling proceeds over this period. Highlights study using Beginning School Study data to examine effects of full-day rather than half-day kindergarten, living in different family arrangements, and other circumstances such as Head Start participation. Found that…

A comparison of 33 Australian adolescents with Down syndrome who did not receive early intervention services and 41 adolescents with Down syndrome who had received early intervention services found no significant difference between the two cohorts in cognitive functioning. Socioeconomic status, mothers' education, and gender were predictors of…

Investigates the usefulness of 50 variables in predicting the academic performance of 86 students readmitted to Bronx Community College following academic suspension. Principal conclusions are that specific academic skills are important, past academic record is unimportant, and a general factor called incentive is important in the attainment of…

Two-cohorts of Grade 1 English as a Second Language (ESL) (n=200) and English as a First Language (EL1) (n=70) children were followed for two years. By considering differences in phonological awareness and rapid naming, it was possible to predict variance on word recognition performance six months and one year later. (Contains references.)…

A study examined self-definition in 11 adolescents with and without disabilities. Variation depended on sense of self, vision of the future, and access and use of supports to cope with difficulties as they prepared to graduate. Students with disabilities were most likely to have low self-definition and experience high struggle. (Contains…

This pilot study examined how the individual social-behavioral profiles of six children with language impairment (LI) influenced their ability to work with two typically developing children in cooperative groups. Although the success of individual interactions was highly variable, the LI child's social profile was a good predictor of ability to…

Examined relationship between social support and appraisal of life events in predicting adaptive, externalizing, and internalizing behavior in 265 seven- to 13-year-olds. Found support for both the main effects and moderator models of the association between life events and global social support. Gender differences were found. Appraisal of life…

Addresses effects of reporting bias on spouses' answers to questions by comparing one-partner and couple data on marital violence. Results indicate significant underreporting of violence, and that some predictors of violence are significantly related to underreporting by one spouse. (JPS)

This study of language performance tracked 34 poor children from kindergarten through second grade. The best kindergarten predictor for eventual diagnosis with a specific language impairment was a combination of the score on the Oral Vocabulary subtest of the Test of Oral Language Development and the score on a combination of experimental tasks.…

Describes a study that investigated the effects of course structure variables, including course length and course frequency, on the computer anxiety, confidence, and attitudes of pre- and inservice teachers. Results show students in courses that met over a longer period of time had significantly greater changes in computer anxiety, confidence, and…

A survey of 158 rural special education teachers found that 57% expected to be in the same position in 5 years. A predictive model developed through logistic regression analysis suggested that administrative support and job requirements played important roles in teachers' five-year plans. (Author/DB)

A study of 163 colleges and universities examined 33 variables seen as incentives for faculty to engage in sponsored research. Results suggest a small predictive relationship between released time to write proposals, reduced faculty loads to work on funded projects, availability of graduate and research assistants, return of some direct costs to…