A prospective study in the area of developmental psychopathology and depression was conducted to determine whether an additive pathological effect upon offspring existed when psychosocial disadvantage and maternal depression were combined. Differences in psychiatric epidemiology and psychological outcome were investigated in 27 children of latency…

Berko's Wug-Technique, using invented words to test linguistic knowledge, has been used with a wide range of age groups, and test results have been treated identically when obtained from children who controlled fully the construction in question in their spontaneous speech or from children just acquiring it. A study of seven-year-old and…

Five papers are presented from a 1982 conference on "Developmental and Clinical Aspects of Young Children's Play." In the first paper ("Cognitive Characteristics of Young Children's Play,") S. Rogers summarizes J. Piaget's theories on developmental stages, discusses the relationship of practice play to learning, and then…

Risk factors affecting infants and young children, such as mother's drug addiction or teenage pregnancy, are discussed. Four major groups of risk factors are considered: (1) sociocultural and demographic factors; (2) biomedical risks; (3) personal-social risk factors; and (4) family history factors. These risk factors intersect to increase…

This paper investigates deaf children of deaf parents who do not use formal sign language. Interactions of two deaf mother-deaf child dyads were videotaped every 2 months for 3 years from 14 and 22 months of age. Mothers and children both made extensive use of gestures. Findings included: (1) the rate of gesture sequencing was high, but even…

A study used a case-contrast approach to explore children's multiple story-telling motivation. Kindergarten children were invited to dictate stories during free play once a week. The stories were written down in a book-like pamphlet and later, read to the class during story time. Many children chose this activity but one child, Rachel, told many…

Presented are findings from a research project on marital and family processes and parenting practices during early remarriage and their relationships to children's behavioral adjustment. Participants were 31 stepfather families and 33 nondivorced families, all of which had a target child between 6 and 9 years of age. Stepfamilies had been married…

A computer program has been developed to assist users of DIAL-R (Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning-Revised), a widely used screening test, in the accurate scoring of young children's performance. In addition to print-out feedback for parents and teachers, the program generates suggested objectives for each child based on the…

Three types of processes occur in language learning, each intricately connected with the others. Social processes are the steps by which learners and target language speakers create a social situation in which target language communication is possible and desired. Linguistic processes are the ways in which assumptions held by target language…

This presentation describes young children's social development, beginning with infancy and spanning the early childhood years. Topics include: (1) attachment when the infant is very young; (2) a social-learning theory view of the early months of life; (3) the onset of prosocial behavior and responsibility; and (4) competence in the early…

This study examined the influence of age, vocabulary knowledge, gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (SES) on the geometric analogy performance of 4- to 6-year-olds. Subjects were 108 children between the ages of 48 and 83 months. Information on the age, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status of each subject was obtained prior to data…

While there is a genuine hope among some educators that computer use will radically restructure the process of education, and fear from others that it may very well succeed in doing so, it is unlikely that such aspirations or fears should be held for early childhood education at this time. Nor does it seem likely that the situation will change…

In an attempt to determine the variables that best predict HOME (Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment) scores, a measure for identifying young at-risk children, 52 mothers of infants completed questionnaires based on HOME. Clinical observation of mother-child interaction was also performed. The questionnaire was found to be…

The training study was designed to use the developmentally appropriate communicative intention of protest as a vehicle for teaching request for object to one 3-year-old language delayed preverbal child. Results revealed that with a specific intervention model the S learned to gesturally, vocally, and verbally express the communication intention…

The purpose of this study was to determine the conditions under which children at computers help or teach each other and to identify ways teachers might efficiently prepare and supervise a computer area. A total of 36 observations were collected of 4- through 7-year-old children and their teachers in three early childhood programs. One hundred and…