Argues that pointing emerges as a component of action-for-self: selective orienting to salient (usually moving or changing things). Pointing with vocalization, followed by pointing with naming, indexes the child's shifting focus of attention. Evidence that pointing emerges for the purpose of intentional communication is lacking. (Author/CB)

Hiring new teachers and continuing their professional growth so that they remain in the profession and become effective teachers have been a challenge for decades. Research suggests that induction programs can achieve these outcomes if they are highly structured, include mentoring, focus on professional learning, and emphasize collaboration that…

Examines several issues arising from two differing approaches to morality--Kohlberg's theory of moral reasoning development and Gilligan's theory of moral orientations. (PCB)

This study evaluated the accuracy of 9 pointing methods used by 20 blind adults. Substantial differences were found, with the most accurate methods involving a body part or extension. The verbal "clockface" was the least accurate and most variable method. The long cane is recommended as a pointing method for adults in applied and…

Orientation to time, place, and person is a central aspect of cognitive functioning. Measures of orientation, as employed in the psychiatric mental status examination, evaluate the accuracy of orientation in present awareness, and are applicable only to severely disturbed psychiatric populations in whom obvious deficits would be expected. The…

Reports on four experiments on pattern perception in four-month-old infants. The first experiment examined preference for patterns varying in structure; the second examined encoding patterns from different subset sizes; and the last two experiments examined changes in the size, position, and orientation of the habituation pattern. (HOD)

Two variants of the habituation paradigm were used to investigate fine orientation discrimination and shape constancy in 34 young infants. Results demonstrate that conditions determine whether young infants show sensitivity to relatively fine variations in pattern orientation or give evidence of shape constancy with the same patterns. (HOD)

A study of 258 news personnel from 17 newspapers indicated that professional attitudes toward contemporary newspaper journalism fell into three distinct clusters: traditional, interpretative, and activist. Traditional journalists focused on local and spot news, downgraded interpretative and national/international material, and shared their…

Although it has been suggested that women are less likely than men to use cardinality in dealing with environmental space, there has been no direct empirical assessment of this claim. If women are less likely than men to use cardinality, it is not clear whether women lack the competence to use a coordinate system of reference or simply prefer…

In response to H. Lee Swanson's paper, "Toward a Metatheory of Learning Disabilities," this article argues that the field of learning disabilities does not need to be legitimized and that basic research in learning disabilities is not necessarily the prerequisite vehicle by which theoretical progress can be made. (JDD)

Second and third graders and fifth and sixth graders were tested in a very large, unfamiliar environment to determine the relation of their knowledge of an abstract reference frame to performance on a spatial inference task. (HOD)

Results supported the hypothesis that alcohol-related performance decrements would be observed in the vigilance and motor activity task performance of four year olds, even after adjusting for the effects of nicotine, in children whose mothers were generally not alcoholics but only social drinkers of varying amounts. (Author/AS)

Successful outcome in psychotherapy depends, in part, on clients' preconceptions and expectations. Research has shown that inaccurate expectations are more prevalent among lower socioeconomic status clients, who also represent the majority of substance abusers in community treatment programs. To investigate the effect of general and specific…

This article discusses the development of an orientation and mobility screening measure suitable for use with children having severe visual impairments (and possibly additional impairments) from birth through five years of age. Twenty instructors rated the measures as being useful. The two forms of the measure (for either ambulatory or…

This study examines the effect of one social milieu factor (Israeli kibbutz versus urban lifestyle) on Israeli adolescents' future orientation. Responses of 114 kibbutz and 112 urban adolescents to an open-ended Future Orientation Questionnaire are grouped into nine life domains: school and matriculation, military service, higher education, work…