The primary goal of special educators must always be to optimize the instruction given to low-performing students. The amount of teacher-directed instruction that low-performing students receive is directly related to their achievement. To maximize the amount of teacher-directed instruction, small and large group instruction is recommended.…

Teachers and clinicians can help ease the anxiety of mildly- to moderately-handicapped three- to five-year-olds and their parents during educational assessment by: careful planning and preparation before testing; gathering all testing materials before screening; talking with parents; understanding children's feelings of restlessness and anxiety;…

How Piaget's theory of developmental stages affects the musical ability of children at different ages is important for the music educator to understand. The following developmental stages are discussed: sensorimotor period, preoperations period, concrete operations period, formal operations period, and creative stage. (RM)

Studies that have questioned how children best demonstrate their ability to discriminate pitch are discussed, and practical applications of the findings are examined. One specific performance-based response that is not necessarily a good indicator of ability to discriminate pitch is singing. (RM)

The ability to feel and maintain steady, rhythmic beat is important for children to develop in early childhood and will assist them in mastering concepts in language and literacy, mathematics, and other content areas as well as increase body coordination and related physical abilities. Designed as an activity supplement to High Scope movement and…

Recent research and legislative initiatives have put pressure on preschool teachers and administrators to increase children's literacy development. This concise, practical resource helps readers respond to this challenge with the content and best practices needed to provide preschoolers with balanced, effective literacy instruction. The book…

A two-issue volume presents articles describing innovative schools, classrooms, and alternative learning arrangements found in some of today's schools. Issue one contains three articles offering glimpses of an elementary school committed to the Core Knowledge curriculum of E. D. Hirsch, a renovated school devoted to early childhood learning…

Adapted for child care and Head Start providers, this educator's kit contains activities and information to improve nutrition experiences for preschool-age children. In addition to the educator's guide, the kit includes a short videotape and audiotape with three segments that teach about trying different types of foods; about the taste, touch, and…

Several activities that can help deaf children build affective awareness are described. The activities emphasize hands-on, experience-based learning and play, and focus on building self-awareness, learning new ways to interact, recognizing feelings, and having children create books about themselves. (JDD)

During an eight-month treatment regimen utilizing simultaneous sign/speech input, all of the words of a young girl with Down's Syndrome were recorded. Analyses revealed that most of the words she initially signed were later spontaneously spoken and that most of her signed productions evolved into spontaneous spoken productions. (Author/JDD)

The verbal exchanges between mothers and their 30 children, aged 3-4, were observed during semistructured play. Results showed that mothers of gifted children were more likely than mothers of normal-ability children to model metacognitive strategies in 3 areas: predicting consequences, activity monitoring, and reality testing. (JDD)

Six autistic children, age 3-6, and 6 children with Down syndrome were followed over a period of 12-26 months. Autistic children followed the same general developmental path as the Down syndrome children in the acquisition of grammatical and lexical aspects of language. (Author/JDD)

Analyzes the nature of future-oriented self-control and the psychological processes underlying it. Reports that the self-control in four-year-old children reveals differences in delay behavior. (YP)

Incorporating group socialization procedures into a classroom with young children with developmental difficulties requires identifying target children, implementing the procedures, and evaluating the procedures. Socialization activities may include encouraging children to interact with one another, frequent modeling of prosocial behavior, frequent…

Ten mildly handicapped preschool children were taught to use problem-solving strategies to complete fine motor tasks. Qualitative and quantitative data indicated that the intervention had a positive impact on the task persistence of some children and that some children became more systematic in their approach to solving tasks. (Author/JDD)