A number of studies suggest that imitation is a characteristic strength in children with Down Syndrome (DS). The present study aims to discover whether imitation performances are qualitatively phenotypical in DS. Eight preschoolers with DS were matched on chronological, mental, language and imitation age with 8 preschoolers with intellectual…

Stimulus overselectivity is widely accepted as a stimulus control abnormality in autism spectrum disorders and subsets of other populations. Previous research has demonstrated a link between both chronological and mental age and overselectivity in typical development. However, the age at which children are developmentally ready to respond to…

The emergence of the Down syndrome (DS) behavioural phenotype during early development may be of great importance for early intervention. The main goal of this study was to investigate the good-imitator-poor-talker developmental profile in DS at preschool age. Twenty children with Down syndrome (DS; mean nonverbal mental age NMA 1 y10 m) and 15…

(Purpose) The purpose of this research model is to determine if a gifted preschool child will be less likely to experience severe emotional disturbance (SED) if he, or she, has been exposed to a curriculum that is appropriate for his, or her, mental age and an environment with true peers that is appropriate for his, or her, chronological age. …

This study aimed to clarify factors related to difficulties in responding to "yes/no" questions (Y/N-Qs) among 52 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), 41 boys and 11 girls aged between 3:5-16:0 years. Participants completed the Tanaka-Binet Intelligence Scale V, the Picture Vocabulary Test: Revised (PVT-R), and the Pervasive…

Developmental regression is a complex phenomenon which occurs in 20-49% of the autistic population. Aim of the study was to assess possible differences in the development of regressed and non-regressed autistic preschoolers. We longitudinally studied 40 autistic children (18 regressed, 22 non-regressed) aged 2-6 years. The following developmental…

Background: For pre-school children, the home literacy environment (HLE) plays an important role in the development of language and literacy skills. As there is little known about the HLE of children with intellectual disabilities (ID), the aim of the present study was to investigate the HLE of children with ID in comparison with children without…

Compares gifted preschool boys and girls with both a CA (Chronological Age)-matched group and an MA (Mental Age)-matched group on their performance on a spatial projective task, a cognitive perspective-taking task, and an affective perspective-taking task. The data seem to support the hypothesis that psychometric brightness implies cognitive…

Exploratory behaviors of Down Syndrome and nondelayed young children between the mental ages of 16 and 32 months were examined in four situations in which they tried to find things which they saw reflected in a mirror. Down Syndrome and nondelayed children differed in number, type, and frequency of exploratory behaviors. (PCB)

The study found low to moderate correlations between cognitive and play measures for over 200 preschool children classified as mildly retarded, moderately retarded, borderline, and language disordered. Retarded and borderline groups achieved similar mental ages on both measures while language disordered and atypical groups demonstrated marked…

Examined risk factors of 3-year-old sons in 58 families with alcoholic fathers and 16 families with nonalcoholic fathers. Found that sons of alcoholic fathers were more impulsive than sons of nonalcoholic fathers. No differences between the groups in developmental age, IQ, or behavior problems were found. (MDM)

Evaluates the relative contribution of a number of child characteristics to the prediction of social acceptance. Predictor variables included positive social interactions, occupied behavior when not interacting, mental age, chronological age, and sex. Results supported the efficacy of helping social isolates to interact positively with peers.…

The relationship between preschool children's level of gender understanding and their ability to identify gender-linked attributes was examined. Participants were 26 3-year-old and 30 4-year-old children who were administered a single-cue gender labelling task, Slaby and Frey's (1975) gender constancy test, and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test.…

Background: Previous research has emphasized the importance of gesture in early communicative development. These studies have reported that gestures are used frequently during the first two years of life and may play a transitional role in the language acquisition process. Although there are now numerous descriptions of the relationship between…

The relationship between egocentrism and five components of social competence (decentering ability, social participation, helping behavior, conflict resolution, and egocentric speech) in young children was examined in this study. Measures of egocentrism, intelligence and social competence were obtained for each of 100 three-year-old children…