Discussed are the development of standards for playgrounds and standards already published by the Standards Association of Australia. (SB)

Assessment of the expectations of families with handicapped (N=9) and nonhandicapped (N=50) young children before and after the introduction of handicapped children into a day care center revealed both groups felt that greatest benefits were derived from exposing children to the "real" world and promoting acceptance of handicapped children.…

This paper examines the relation between literacy and children's understanding of a set of concepts referred to as the "say/mean distinction," which is the notion that what a text says contrasts with subjective interpretations a reader or listener brings. (Author/MT)

Evaluation of the ability of 12 hearing children (3-year-olds) to use iconic cues to comprehend signs indicated that resemblance of signs to their referents did not enable subjects to decipher the meaning of most signs. Results were applied to use of adapted assessment instruments with young hearing impaired children. (DB)

Made spot observations of 83 infant to six-year-old children. Examined sex and age differences in children's typical play and nonplay activities and in the people with whom they interacted. There were fewer sex differences in children's activities, activity partners, and general social settings than expected. (Author/LHW)

The incidence of hearing impairments caused by meningitis (8.7% of which 63% have profound hearing loss) suggests that universal vaccination at age 18 months could prevent at least 115 cases of hearing loss anuually in the United States. Reported prevalence rates were higher for blacks and for males. (Author/DB)

A vignette procedure was used to elicit knowledge of delay of gratification strategies in 84 4-, 6-, and 8-year-old children. The 4-year-olds evinced minimal knowledge of effective delay strategies; 50% of 6-year-olds and 94% of 8-year-olds could describe at least one form of distractive strategy. (Author/BN)

Maternal involvement effects on symbolic play development in toddlers were investigated. Sixteen mother-child dyads were observed at bimonthly intervals in a free-play setting during the period from 20 to 28 months of age. The complexity and length of play episodes increased when the mother was available to play with the child. (Author/BN)

Investigated the influence of the child's knowledge base on symbolic play in terms of event schemas. Pretend play of 10 mother-child (ages 24 to 29 months) dyads was observed in novel and free play contexts. Play was examined for thematic content, self-other relations, substitute/imaginary objects, action integration, and planfulness. (Author/BN)

The strength of the tendency of children (aged 4 1/2 to 7 1/2 years) to give phenomenist reading of neutral questions about object properties was investigated. Phenomenist answers decreased with age, and social dominance and conversational context affected answers. (SKC)

Two experiments investigated children's tendencies to draw what they know rather than what they see. The first experiment looked at the way children, aged five to nine, and adults represent an object occluded by another object. Most subjects drew only what they could see. The second experiment investigated subjects' interpretation of pictures…

The study examined effects of aversive taste treatment of thumb sucking on untreated habitual hair pulling by two young males (ages 2 and 5). Concomitant with successful treatment of thumb sucking, hair pulling was also eliminated. Results suggest an efficient method for changing behaviors that are difficult to treat directly. (Author/JW)

Observation of in-home interactions of mentally retarded children (N=16 and mean age 6 years) and their older nonhandicapped siblings as well as normal sibling pairs indicated high rates of interaction between siblings, accentuated role asymmetries, less joint object play, but no differences in affect. (Author/DB)