Wechsler scale performance patterns of American Indian children

Using WISC, WISC-R, and WPPSI subtest scores recategorized according to the Bannatyne scheme, the study uncovered evidence for the existence of an Indian Wechsler Scale performance pattern that is different from that found in normal and learning disabled groups. The Indian pattern finds spatial abilities more well developed than sequencing skills, which are superior to conceptual and acquired knowledge performances. The sample was composed of 142 Indian children, primarily Ojibwa (Chippewa). Supporting hypotheses addressed differences between groups of traditional Indian children and those who are more Anglo acculturated. The traditional children evidenced the Indian pattern of recategorized Wechsler subtest performance, while the more acculturated groups did not. Discussion of results centers on factors that may be related to the Indian pattern, such as cultural heritage, otitis media, and the school curriculum.     

‘Approaching the sacred’: directionality in the relation between curriculum and knowledge structure

Increasing pressure on all levels of educational provision, whether academic or overtly vocational, to be to ‘relevant’ and ‘useful’ prompts consideration of the relation between curriculum and pedagogy in terms of the internal structure of knowledge forms. Following Durkheim’s distinction between ‘sacred’ and ‘profane’ orders of meaning and drawing on the work of Basil Bernstein, this paper questions pedagogic presuppositions that directionality from sensory experience to abstraction posits the everyday life of the student as the foundation for the acquisition of complex, systematic knowledge. Two empirical examples are discussed: one focuses on the internal structure of craft knowledge, while the other focuses on the internal structure of mathematics as school subject. They converge in the finding that transmission of knowledge structure, whether in material or symbolic form, requires the transformation of empirical objects into theoretical objects before a connecting point can be found between the world of everyday experience and specialised knowledge forms. This is what constitutes a ‘relevant’ curriculum.     

The Antecedents of Menarcheal Age: Heredity, Family Environment, and Stressful Life Events

Variations in pubertal timing, specifically age at menarche, have been associated with several antecedents, both genetic and environmental. Recent research has considered a broader range of environmental stressors and their influence on the development of the reproductive system. In this investigation, the following possible antecedents were considered: ( a ) hereditary transmission, ( b ) weight and weight for height, ( c ) stressful life events, ( d ) family relations, ( e ) absence or presence of an adult male in the household, and ( f ) psychological adjustment. Subjects were 75 premenarcheal girls between the ages of 10 and 14 drawn from a larger longitudinal investigation of adolescent development. Girls were from white, well-educated, middle- to upper-middle-class families and attended private schools in a northeastern urban area. While breast development, weight, family relations, and depressive affect were predictive of age at menarche, family relations predicted age at menarche above the influence of breast development or weight. A trend for maternal age at menarche to predict adolescent's age at menarche was found. Weight for height, presence of an adult male in the household, and stressful events were not predictive of age at menarche. These complex interactions of biological and psychosocial development demonstrated here may account to some extent for the inter- and intraindividual variation observed in pubertal development.     

Are reading methods changing again?

This paper was first written as a talk to the Orton Dyslexia Society, in response to present reading reforms in California and elsewhere. A historical context is provided which suggests that such reforms are but a small chapter in a long-standing tension between code emphasis and meaning emphasis approaches to reading. This tension has been fueling debate for an entire century, with outcomes at any given point apparently decided as much by fashion and politics as by research and experience. More collaboration is called for between remedial specialists and “regular education” teachers, to reduce the incidence of children who require special help.     

Economic Deprivation and Early Childhood Development

We consider 3 questions regarding the effects of economic deprivation on child development. First, how are developmental outcomes in childhood affected by poverty and such poverty correlates as single parenthood, ethnicity, and maternal education? Second, what are the developmental consequences of the duration and timing of family economic deprivation? And, third, what is the comparative influence of economic deprivation at the family and neighborhood level? We investigate these issues with longitudinal data from the Infant Health and Development Program. We find that family income and poverty status are powerful correlates of the cognitive development and behavior of children, even after accounting for other differences—in particular family structure and maternal schooling—between low- and high-income families. While the duration of poverty matters, its timing in early childhood does not. Age-5 IQs are found to be higher in neighborhoods with greater concentrations of affluent neighbors, while the prevalence of low-income neighbors appears to increase the incidence of externalizing behavior problems.