Intelligence Quotient (IQ) tests show that there is a rise in IQ measurement up to age 5 1/2, yet the IQ levels off and drops at age 8 1/2. The shift from unrestricted television viewing for preschoolers to the emphasis on verbal communication in school may be the cause. Visual languages within a symbolic system could be one method of…

The paper examines aspects of effective language intervention with autistic children. An overview is presented about the nature of language, its perception and comprehension, and the production of speech-language. Assessment strategies are considered. The second part of the paper analyzes traditional and communications-based intervention programs.…

The relationship was explored between the ability to understand nonverbal metaphoric similarity and the ability to produce verbal metaphors to talk about that similarity. Subjects, 45 college students, were shown filmed scenes that depicted both metaphoric and literal similarity. Half of the scenes were of stationary objects and half of moving…

Evaluated with two age groups (mean age 8.1 years or 10.6 years) totaling 22 learning disabled children was whether there is an age related increase in recognition for visual nonverbal short term memory (STM) and the effects on STM of stimulus dimensionality, primacy, recency, and second choice responses. A serial recognition task was used to…

Sociolinguistic data regarding code selection and nonverbal modes of learning are examined in the gesture communication system of the (Oglala and Brule) Sioux. Sign language is viewed as an extra-linguistic mode of communication currently in use in Indian classrooms. It is one alternative to literacy as a means of communication; however, this is…

Composition researchers and teachers grant that the relationship of non-verbal thinking and language plays a crucial role in the writing of fiction and poetry, but they are sometimes reluctant to perceive that non-verbal thinking must, necessarily, be crucial, with different emphases, in the thinking/writing processes of rhetoric. Activities and…

Unfortunately, the current popularity of questioning strategies has led to their widespread excessive and/or exclusive employment in evaluating reading comprehension. An approach in reading instruction which utilizes both verbal and nonverbal communication for assessing comprehension contains several unique features that provide for the…

Three papers focus on applications of computer graphics with deaf and severely language impaired children. The first describes a drawing tablet software that allowed students to use visual and manipulative characteristics to enhance problem solving and creativity skills. Students were thus able to solve problems without the obstacles of language.…

Because proficiency in nonverbal communication is as important in international business communication as it is in one's own culture, temporary residents need to learn how to improve communication. This paper explores several ways business communication specialists can help improve sojourners' nonverbal fluency for specific cultures. Temporary…

A battery of immediate memory tests was given to eight mentally retarded Down's Syndrome Ss, eight controls matched on chronological age (CA), and eight controls matched on mental age (MA). All Ss were required to identify both receptively and expressively 24 items from the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. There was no significant difference…

This paper examines how visual information strategies may be used to facilitate the development of mental models. Topics covered include: definition of mental models; mental models and visual information; mental modeling concepts; power of modeling, including examples related to physical science, mathematics, writing, and depth of processing;…

Much research has focused on cognitive skills in isolation from daily life and from action. However, memory and thinking in daily life are not separate from, but are part of, doing. This study is based on a theoretical framework that encompasses an integrated account of mind in action. This "activity theory" holds that neither mind as such nor…

The impact of age effects on nonverbal memory for auditory or tactual patterns has been largely neglected in research studies. The effects of age on nonverbal memory were investigated by comparing subjects (N=120), divided by age decades into six groups (N=20), through tests using visual, auditory, and tactual items which were resistant to verbal…

Nonverbal learning disorders are less common than the typical language-based learning disabilities identified by school staff. Appropriate intervention is highly dependent on the accurate diagnosis of this disorder. Emphasis on performance and behavior management often obscures the etiology of a child's difficulties and leads to ineffective…

The growth of intercultural interactions increases the need for nonverbal communication competency to help obviate potential cross cultural communication difficulties. Foreign language studies too often concentrate on vocabulary, grammar, and syntax, and forgo the role and methods of nonverbal communication. Japanese culture and modes of…