When a battery of tests commonly associated with intelligence was administered to 144 13 year olds identified as extremely precocious, the verbally precocious students scored higher on verbal and general knowledge types of tests, and mathematically precocious students scored higher on tests of nonverbal reasoning, spatial ability, and memory.…

Examined the communicative behavior of 40 maltreated and nonmaltreated 31-month-old toddlers and their mothers. Results revealed that maltreated toddlers followed a pattern of shorter mean length of utterance, less descriptive speech, and proportionally less relevant speech. (RJC)

This study compared 56 early and nonearly readers (matched individually on sex, age, and preschool and kindergarten attended) in terms of their language concepts and skills, as well as their reading achievement, in kindergarten through second grade. The early readers were found superior to nonearly readers on preschool measures of general language…

The generalizability of the internal/external (I/E) frame of reference model was tested with 152 American seventh and eighth graders across different measures of mathematics and verbal self-concepts and across gender. All but one of the findings were consistent with the I/E model. (SLD)

Swedish high school students (n=111) at 3 levels of verbal skill rated their own recall (prediction accuracy) and comprehension (calibration accuracy) of 3 expository texts. Students seemed to assess their own skills well and had acceptable levels of comprehension calibration and recall prediction accuracy. (SLD)

Scores on cognitive abilities tests administered to students (n=80; grades 4-8) being considered for gifted placement were analyzed for differences between low socioeconomic status (SES) students and average or above average SES students. Analysis indicated that the primary reason low SES students did not meet criteria for gifted placement was low…

In 2 experiments, 261 middle school students processed an analogy and responded to factual and inferential target-domain questions in a study of variables that contribute to the formation of analogical misconceptions. Results of both experiments support a six-variable model of analogical misconception formation. (SLD)

Frame-of-reference theory was applied to verbal and mathematics self-concept and achievement measures with 103 high school students, ages 13 through 15, who were academically able. Path analysis verified the influence of both internal ability comparisons across academic areas and external ability comparisons relative to peers in determining…

Age-related differences in language and other neuropsychological variables in 60 noninstitutionalized adults with Down syndrome were examined. Results indicated that there were significant relations between advanced age and the ability to comprehend spoken language and between advanced age and independence in activities of daily living skills.…

Discussion of thinking styles in library tasks focuses on a study at Brigham Young University that explored the relationship between thinking styles and library organization. Use of the Squires Thinking Styles Test is described, results that indicate professional librarians tend to be verbally oriented are discussed, and future prospects are…

Describes a study of high ability, highly verbal fifth-grade students that was conducted to identify students' use of learning strategies, their encoding processes, and their navigational decisions in a hypermedia lesson on propaganda techniques which contained an associative-linked structure. (Author/LRW)

Comparison of social initiations by 18 children with autism and 13 verbally matched children with mental retardation found autistic children's social initiations were more ritualized and the retarded children's were more playful. Autistic initiation to peers was unrelated to severity of autism, but was related to cognitive skills, whereas retarded…

Three- and 4-year-old children were tested using videos of puppets in various versions of a theory of mind change-of-location situation, in order to answer several questions about what children are doing when they pass false belief tests. To investigate whether children were guessing or confidently choosing their answer to the test question, a…

Sex-related differential studies on mathematical abilities have hardly taken into account the mediator role of the verbal factor, which contrasts with the interest shown in the mediator role of visuospatial aptitude. We predicted that if sex-related differences were found, mental rotation would mediate mathematical abilities typically favoring…

Meta issues in stuttering were examined by analyzing verbal-descriptive data drawn from structured interviews with 23 male children who stutter (CWS) and their 23 fluent male peers. Participants described others' "good" and "bad" talk behaviors and provided their self-appraisals as talkers. Analysis of interview transcripts suggested that CWS…