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This study examined the performances of 171 children in kindergarten through second grade on 11 tasks of phonological awareness. The purpose was to assess phonological awareness skill acquisition across age and type of task. Results provided support for an ordering of tasks by difficulty, or age of mastery, as follows: rhyme, alliteration, blending, segmentation, manipulation. Performance on all of the tasks demonstrated rapid growth in 6-year-old children (first grade), and most tasks were mastered (90% correct) by the age of 7 years. The study also supports previous work indicating certain variables (i.e., age, verbal ability, letter-sound knowledge, reading skill) that are significantly related to performance on the phonological measures. Knowing the age at which students typically master these tasks and the order in which they acquire these skills should enhance our ability to assess both normal and delayed phonological awareness performance and help to inform instructional practices.

This study tested Salk's hypothesis that the human fetus is prenatally imprinted to the repetitive intermittent sound of the maternal heartbeat. 2 groups of neonates were selected prior to birth based on low (70-80 bpm) and high (100-110 bpm) maternal resting heart rates. At 24-48 hours old, the neonates were exposed to a 75-bpm, 105-bpm, or a no-sound tape, each prior to 1 of 3 different mealtimes. The prediction, based on Salk's hypothesis, that neonates would quiet most to their own mother's heart rate compared with the unfamiliar heart rate was not supported. Greater arousal reduction was found for any rhythmic sound compared with no sound. M-st important, clear prenatal influences on postnatal quieting behavior were demonstrated. Babies born to low-heart-rate mothers fell asleep faster, slept longer, and cried less under all conditions than did high-maternal-heart-rate children.

Syracuse University's Psychoeducational Teaching Laboratory attempted to evaluate how well it was transmitting the principles of multidimensional and nonbiased assessment practices to its students. School psychology and special education graduate students were asked to make program placement decisions for a child when given data about IQ, adaptive behavior higher than IQ, and academic achievement. Results indicated that the school psychology and special education programs were equally successful in training students to seek least restrictive school placements. Their decisions reflected a greater degree of integration with nonhandicapped students than might be expected from either the child's IQ or adaptive-behavior data alone. However, no matter what the order of presentation of IQ and adaptive-behavior data, IQ had a powerful paralyzing effect on further flexibility in problem solving. For these students, the mainstreaming ideology had taken hold, but the IQ information had not been demystified. If these findings are supported in replications, definite implications arise regarding the manner of presenting IQ information when making placement decisions. It has been known for a long time that IQ is not highly related to our educational system's goal of postschool adult adjustment. Therefore the recent development of adaptive-behavior measures, although imperfect in conceptualization and construction, is viewed positively. Their impact upon school placement and programming decisions, relative to other measures, will depend on future reliability and validity research. Recent developments have solidified the special educator's role alongside that of the school psychologist in placement and programming decisions. The multidimensional and least biased assessment procedures mandated by P.L. 94-142, and increasing emphasis on social competence (Zigler & Trickett, 1978) have encouraged greater collaboration between the special educator and school psychologist in selecting appropriate placements and instructional methods for exceptional children. The school psychologist has traditionally identified most retarded school children (Meyers, 1973), and has been most influential in special class placement decisions (Keogh, 1972). Special class placements were often authorized on the basis of a standardized intelligence test. In addition, prior to both P.L. 94-142 and Section 504 of P.L. 93-112, there was no mandate for selecting intelligence measures appropriate to a student's experience and skills. As a result, the practice of using IQ tests as the sole determiner of a handicapping condition and special placement has been justifiably attacked

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