Cognitive scanning processes in children

Third- and fifth-grade children and adults were presented with 8-item letter sequences of varied approximations to English in a tachistoscopic single report, cue delay task. Age differences in report accuracy suggested that younger children, as compared with adults, may be at a double disadvantage in tasks requiring perceptual-memory processing: Their initial intake capacity and/or selective processing abilities may be more limited than those of adults; and the subsequent strategy employed by children to transfer iconic information into a more permanent memory store appears to be qualitatively, as well as quantitatively, different (less systematic, less orderly, and less efficient) than that used by adults. The suggestion that children's reading experience and ability (as assessed by a word recognition task) may be related to their systematic use of an orderly left-to-right iconic transfer strategy was also examined. In addition, the results suggested that the differential letter-pattern familiarity effect between children and adults may not be attributable to visual intake components but, rather, may be related to the relative rates with which familiar letter patterns are transferred out of iconic memory.     

Spontaneous expressive control in blind and sighted children

The effect of blindness on the spontaneous expressive control of negative emotion was examined in a study comparing 12 congenitally blind children with 12 sighted children who were matched by age, sex, and school. Blind children engaged in as much positive facial display as sighted children when receiving a disappointing prize, although they were less likely to refer spontaneously to their expressive control in explaining whether the examiner knew of their disappointment. Blind children were more likely to engage in neutral remarks when receiving the disappointing prize, and older blind children referred to verbal control of emotion communication. The data suggest that blindness does not preclude the spontaneous expressive control of negative emotion.     

Childhood fears among children who are blind: the perspective of teachers who are blind

The aim of this study was to investigate childhood fears in children who are blind from the perspective of teachers who are blind. The study was conducted in Jordan. Forty-six teachers were interviewed. Results revealed that the main fear content in children who are blind includes fear of the unknown; environment-, transportation- and people-related fear; and fear of animals. The teachers reported that the reasons for fear in children with visual impairment include child-related reasons (internal reasons), lack of training (hearing, social skills, orientation and mobility [O&M] and tactile training), family factors and an unsuitable physical environment. O&M training, independence training, family counselling and environment adaptation were reported to be the best procedures to deal with fear in these children. Recommendations are provided in the light of the study.     

Cognitive development in bilingual and monolingual lower-class children

The cognitive development of lower-class English-speaking monolingual and English-Spanishs peaking bilingual children in kindergarten, third, and sixth grades was compared by means of standard verbal and nonverbal measures. The verbal ability of bilingual children was assessed in both English and Spanish. Their scores in both languages were lower than those of monolingual children. However, the mean scores and error patterns of both groups on nonverbal measures were equivalent, suggesting that bilingual and monolingual children have comparable cognitive skills despite apparent language differences.     

Behavior problems in blind children and youth: A prevalence study

The Behavior Problem Checklist (Quay & Peterson, 1979) was completed by classroom teachers for 104 children and youth (64 boys and 40 girls) at a state residential school for the blind to determine the prevalence of problem behavior. Results were compared to earlier studies of behavior problems of nonhandicapped children and of two groups of hearing-impaired children, one living at home and attending a community program and a second group attending a state residential school. Results were more similar to those obtained with the hearing-impaired children in the residential setting than to either the nonhandicapped or the hearing-impaired living at home. Comparisons by sex failed to find statistically significant differences.     

Psychological factors with an impact on orientation and mobility in blind children

Abstract

Instruction in orientation and mobility should provide knowledge and skills to enable a blind person to travel safely, efficiently, gracefully and independently. Several psychological variables which might have an impact on these abilities and skills are discussed especially as they are related to developmental aspects of blind children. Their importance should be considered when teaching or assessing orientation and mobility performances with blind and partially sighted children.     

A comparative study of children's attitudes towards deaf children,children in wheelchairs and blind children in Greece and in the UK

This comparative study explores the attitudes of children towards deaf children, children in wheelchairs and blind children in Greece and in the UK. A total of 463 children participated in this study, with 229 children from Greece and 234 children from the UK, in the fifth and sixth grades in primary schools. The views of the children were elicited with the use of an attitude scale. The roles of prior contact and current contact were examined. Results indicated that all children were positive towards the three categories of children and that girls were more positive than boys. Comparative findings showed that children's attitudes in the two countries differed in several ways. Children in Greece were more positive than children in the UK. However, children attending schools with special education units in Greece held more negative attitudes than children attending schools with special education units in the UK. Also, children in Greece who had prior contact with deaf children were less favourable towards deaf children compared with children in the UK. Furthermore, the results indicated that children held positive attitudes at a superficial level, expressing mostly social and emotional concern, and not a willingness to interact with these children. The findings stimulate a discussion regarding the impact of sociocultural characteristics upon children's attitudes towards children with special educational needs.     

Cognitive and academic skills in children with sex chromosome abnormalities

Forty-six unselected children with various sex chromosome abnormalities (14 boys with 47,XXY, 4 boys with 47,XYY, 11 girls with 47,XXX, 9 girls with 45,X, and 8 girls with SCA mosaicism), identified through the consecutive chromosome screening of 40,000 Denver newborns, have been followed developmentally and evaluated in a protocol that included intellectual, language, and achievement testing. Controls consisted of 12 chromosomally normal males and 13 chromosomally normal females who were siblings of various propositi. While most SCA children were not mentally retarded, most of the nonmosaic propositi (31/37) received special education help for learning problems. In general, nonmosaic males were less severely affected than nonmosaic females, who demonstrated significantly reduced mean IQ scores on both Wechsler IQ tests. The inference that learning disorders were genetically mediated in this group was further supported by karyotype-specific findings. 47,XXY boys tended to demonstrate lower verbal skills and a specific reading disability. 47,XXX girls, while more globally impaired, demonstrated evidence of a specific weakness in language skills. 45,X girls tended to be globally impaired, but demonstrated a contrasting specific deficit in spatial thinking skills. Mosaic girls were not significantly different than controls on any measure, an outcome likely occurring because of the low percentage of aneuploid cells in these propositae. Variability was present in each group, and no single profile can characterize all children with any specific SCA. The presence of SCA, therefore, must be viewed as a risk factor creating a tendency towards LD but interacting with a host of other genetic and environmental forces to create a range of phenotypic outcomes.