Examined relationship among Conners Teacher Rating Scale, Revised Conners Parent Rating Scale, Revised Behavior Problem Checklist, and Freedom-from-Distractibility (FD) factor score of Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised for 135 children and adolescents referred to learning disabilities clinic. Results appear to corroborate evidence…

Twenty-three autistic children (age 4-19) and 23 mental age-matched controls completed a task of sustained attention. Results suggest that autistic children's difficulties in sustaining attention may be attributable to developmental delay and motivational contingencies of task rather than to a primary impairment in ability to sustain attention.…

The mental capacity of 120 children aged 10 to 16 years was measured with 2 visual information-processing tasks, and their level of moral development was assessed with the Sociomoral Reflection Measure. Results suggest that mental capacity is a necessary but not sufficient condition for moral developmental growth. (LB)

In four year olds who had been exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) before birth, prenatal exposure was associated with less efficient visual discrimination processing and more errors in short memory scanning. Postnatal exposure was unrelated to cognitive performance. (GLR)

Examined whether deficits in organization could be documented in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder using a measure of time and object organization. Organization scales were administered to children and their parents; specific deficits were found in the organization of events and objects for children with hyperactivity relative…

This study compared the social-communicative performance of six preschool children with developmental delays during free play in both mainstream and reverse-integration program settings. Neither setting appeared to promote adequate rates of initiating and responding. The use of attention-getting devices increased the number of successful…

Presents an interview with pediatrician and adult and child psychiatrist Dr. Lawrence Greenberg, researcher, clinician, and expert on attention deficit, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and related concerns. Discusses the TOVA (Test of Variables of Attention), a continuous performance test for clinical use developed by Dr. Greenberg; diagnostic…

Professional boxers provided information about their careers and training practices and completed neuropsychological testing. Test performance did not relate to age, boxing record, career length, or knockout history. The amount of sparring inversely related to performance on several of the tests, with impairment in the areas of attention,…

A study of 31 typical children aged 5-10 engaged in child-to-child social interactions, found joint attention was positively related to age and activity, eye gaze was low relative to joint attention and object engagement, and eye gaze was significantly less than what has been reported for adult-child and adult-adult dyads. (Contains references.)…

Objective: To evaluate clinical measures of the benefit/risk ratio in a post hoc analysis of a clinical trial of d-threo-methylphenidate hydrochloride (d-MPH) and d,l-threo-methylphenidate hydrochloride (d,l-MPH). Method: Data from a phase III clinical trial was used to compare equimolar doses of d-MPH and d,l-MPH treatment for…

There may be many different reasons why children have problems paying attention. One child might be visually oversensitive. Another child, who is oversensitive to smells, might be distracted by the teachers' perfume. Auditory sensitivity can be just as distracting. As such, it is important to remember that children with developmental difficulties…

The purpose of this study was to determine the latent structure of the California Verbal Learning Test--Children's Version (CVLT-C; D. Delis, J. Kramer, E.Kaplan, & B. Ober, 1994) in a sample of 175 children with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Maximum-likelihood confirmatory factor analyses were performed to test 6 competing hypothetical models…

Research shows that assistive technology (AT) can help young children with disabilities to learn developmental skills. Its use may help infants and toddlers to improve in many areas: (1) social skills including sharing and taking turns; (2) communication skills; (3) attention span; (4) fine and gross motor skills; and (5) self confidence and…

Incidence, severity and types of motor difficulties in children with severe behavioural and emotional problems were evaluated. A group of 6-year-olds (n = 29) with such problems and controls (n = 29) were compared on the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (M-ABC). The groups were compared on total scores as well as manual dexterity, ball…

This article reviews research on the spatial contiguity and temporal contiguity effects. Research on these instructional design effects has focussed on the instructional benefits for novices of reducing split attention between spatially or temporally disparate but related elements of information. Meta-analytic techniques were applied to 50…