Normal and language-disordered first and third graders (matched for sex and cognitive level) were asked to decide whether two geometric arrays were similarly ordered. Language-disordered children did not differ from normal children in accuracy of judgment or require more training trials, but they did respond more slowly. (Author/CL)

The study compared language-disordered and normal young children (N=49) in ability to interpret emotional meaning from vocal cues of adult speakers. Findings indicated that language-disordered children were less accurate in identifying vocal cues of emotion than were normal children, although their error pattern was not significantly different.…

Analogical reasoning is conceptualized by Relational Frame Theory as responding in accordance with an equivalence relation between equivalence or other types of derived stimulus relations. The purpose of this study was to provide an empirical demonstration of analogy using the Relational Evaluation Procedure (REP), a recently developed technique…

The aim of this study was to compare visual and verbal memory in children with nonverbal learning disability (NLD) using the Children's Memory Scale and to identify the profile of strengths and weaknesses in visual memory abilities. Performance was significantly lower on measures of visual than verbal memory, indicating that children with NLD have…

Our research on learning enhancement has been focusing on the consequences for learning and forgetting of some of the more obvious and concrete choices that arise in instruction, including: How does spacing of practice affect retention of information over significant retention intervals (up to two years)? Do spacing effects generalize beyond…

An approximatey 225-item bibliography listing publications concerned with the use of unaided nonspeech systems for individuals with severe communication impairments is provided. References specifically designed for use with retarded, autistic, aphasic, and/or multiply handicapped people; and references relating to instruction are specified. (PHR)

This study examined the effectiveness of using "subject-performed tasks" to improve memory efficiency of eight autistic children. The procedure involved instructing children to carry out and later remember a series of actions. The procedure's effectiveness was attributed to autistic subjects' lack of verbal encoding strategies and…

Two studies examined executive functions in children with autism. Results indicated that subjects performed like normally developing children when either no arbitrary and novel rules were involved or the output was verbal. Results support the hypothesis that these children are challenged by executive tasks because they are unlikely to encode rules…

Proposes a theory of social cognition to account for the comprehension and verification of social information. The theory views comprehension as a process of constructing situation models of new information on the basis of previously formed models about its referents. The comprehension of both single statements and multiple pieces of information…

A common cellular alteration, reduced post-burst afterhyperpolarization (AHP) in CA1 neurons, is associated with acquisition of the hippocampus-dependent tasks trace eyeblink conditioning and the Morris water maze. As a similar increase in excitability is correlated with these two learning paradigms, we sought to determine the interactive…

Research supported in part by the U.S. Office of Education, OEC-1-7-068881-0381.

Behavioral objectives for visual literacy experiences are briefly delineated. The objectives concern skills related to: informative visual communication, persuasive and/or visual communication, general visual communication, visual concepts, and reading visual materials, as well as aesthetic and/or recreational skills. For example, the behavioral…

To provide practice for newly acquired assertiveness skills, leaders have stressed the importance of role playing. This emphasis on verbal exchange sometimes causes the attrition of quiet, introspective participants. This program suggests that art exercises activate the imagination and provide nonverbal methods of practice. (Author/BL)

Seven congenitally blind adolescents participated in a 6-week nonverbal communication skills program which sought to acquaint the subjects with facial expressions and gestures common to daily sighted life and to teach appropriate use of the expressions and gestures. (CB)