Survey of 1,672 Mexican American students in grades 6-12 in a southern California school district found that smoking and smokeless tobacco use were greater among males than females and increased substantially across grades. Nonmigrant youths and those identifying with traditional Mexican American culture were more likely to consider regular…

Describes a Montessori teacher's experience with a sufferer of Tourette's syndrome, a dysfunction characterized by motor and vocal tics. Studies the progress over a school year, including work on academic skills utilizing the Montessori method and behavior. Shares research, successes, and failures in trying to reach the child. (SD)

Examines the gains in single word recognition and oral reading fluency made by low-progress readers after an intensive, systematic skills-based reading program. Reports that the results did not support the hypothesis because both groups of low-progress readers made gains on the reading measures. Includes references. (CMK)

Evaluated effects of daily practice writing spelling words in sentences on generalization of spelling words to written work. Findings from mildly mentally handicapped students (n=4) aged 8 to 13 showed that generalization of the target spelling words to written work was improved by sentence writing. Follow-up condition indicated maintenance of…

Tested multidimensional formulation of assertiveness and substance use in 3 metropolitan-area school samples (N=675, N=1,430, and N=5,545) of adolescents including White, Black, and Hispanic students aged 12-14 years. Found Substance-specific Assertiveness inversly associated with substance use and Social Dating Assertiveness positively associated…

Examined learning styles of African-American, Chinese-American, Greek-American, and Mexican-American fourth, fifth, and sixth graders who completed Learning Style Inventory and Group Embedded Figures Test. Found children from different areas of American subculture had different patterns of preferred learning strategies. Findings suggest need for…

Examined effects of differential teacher training in use of drug education curriculum on 12 grade 5 classrooms of students' knowledge levels, problem-solving and coping skills, attitudes toward planned decision making, behavioral intentions, and tobacco and alcohol use. Found significant differences in intentions to take a drink but not on other…

Replication of a study that showed that deaf 15- to 18-year- olds could accurately identify a significant number of isolated signs presented well out in peripheral vision found that 8- to 12-year-olds could also identify such signs, although results showed a significant effect of age on performance. (Author/CB)

Describes a project that modified the fill rate survey from "Output Measures for Public Libraries" to assess the library needs of middle school children. The resulting development of an up-to-date, graded nonfiction collection and its impact on library use by middle schoolers is discussed. The modified survey form is included. (five…

Examined stressful events in lives of 309 10 to 15 year olds and stressful events and psychological symptoms reported by their parents. Findings suggest that young adolescents' stressful life experiences as well as their parents' stressful events and psychological symptoms are factors associated with increases in adolescent emotional/behavioral…

Uses extant musical examples as stimuli in order to assess the effect of melodic rhythm as a determinant of relative tempo as perceived by college undergraduates and elementary students. Results indicate that subjects responded to the melodic rhythm as well as the beat when making tempo judgments. (LS)

Analyzes extracts of classroom discourse involving teachers and groups of nine-year-olds in terms of what they reveal about the establishment of shared knowledge between teacher and students. Identifies this shared knowledge with the discourse "context," focusing on how classroom events are recalled and reconstructed. (MM)

This study of fifth graders identified 22 behavioral cues to develop and test a peer-report measure of social transactions used to infer liking by peers. Sixteen of the 22 cues described positive behaviors, indicating that positive behaviors may play a more important role in relational communication among children than negative transactions. (TJQ)

Two steps in the social information process model were assessed for socially accepted and rejected children by verbal responses to stories embedded in computer games. Attributions of intent and aggressive problem solutions were correlated with contextual factors (interpersonal context, outcome of game, and story type) and with sex and social…

This article addresses issues in determining normal development of narrative skills in school-age children and adolescents. It considers the purpose and use of norms in this area and research on currently available norms. It focuses on difficulties in compiling norms, including children's wide ability range and effects of situational variables,…