It has been a popular notion that lateralized cerebral function follows a developmental course in that the organization of the brain progresses from a bilateral to essentially unilateral representation of language. Based on this conceptualization, learning disorders were thought to be related to developmental delays in the establishment of cerebral dominance. The current study was designed to assess the validity of this hypothesis. Using a dichotic listening task employing both undirected and directed attention conditions, cerebral asymmetries were examined in matched populations of normal and learning-disabled children at two age levels. The analysis of recall performance indicated that development was not a significant factor in either group; both the normal and learning-disabled children showed a right ear effect, although the learning-disabled children performed at a degraded level; and the learning-disabled children were unable to demonstrate a right ear advantage (REA) when attention was directed to the left ear, unlike normal children, who produced the REA despite the directed attention conditions. These results suggest that learning-disabled children probably do not suffer from developmental delays but rather from a defect in callosal functioning that interferes with their ability to simultaneously process verbal information.

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A four-year follow-up study comparing the performance of intellectually superior children admitted early to school and the performance of normal children admitted at the regular time is presented. Achievement scores, self-emotional adjustment, and school success (promotion/retention) are discussed. Results of a stepwise multiple linear regression reveal nonsignificant findings regarding variables that contribute to school success. The effects of early school admission involving "gifted" children are discussed.The perplexities concerning early admission to kindergarten exist today as they did 50 to 60 years ago. Lincoln (1924) found that children admitted early on the basis of mental age (M.A.) were successful in competing with their age-appropriate classmates. However, many of the early admitted children were below the median for their grade in basic academic areas. Beattie (1970), Evans (1974, and Hamalainen (1952) suggest underage children are at a particular disadvantage when considering social-emotional adjustment. Hemphill (Note 1) reported that children admitted early on the basis of above average mental ability were not earning as high marks as their older counterparts. They tended to be less interested and to have more fears, tensions, and emotional upsets. Forrester (1955) reported that "very bright yet very young" students met with varying degrees of difficulty from the junior high period forward. Beattie (1970) reviewed research contrasting children matched on gender, IQ, and SES and suggested that older children score consistently higher on achievement measures than do younger classmates. Reynolds (1962) reported that early admitted children with strong ability were retained more frequently than normal children who were older. Baer (Note 2), comparing underage vs. overage children matched for IQ during an 1 1-year period, reported that the older students were marked as being more successful than younger students in maintaining progress from grade to grade. Early admission is supported in the literature by gifted proponents (Anderson, 1961; Dickinson & Larson, 1963; Holbrook, 1962; McCandless, 1957; Miller, 1962), as it purportedly benefits the student academically. However, some of the brighter children who entered early had more than the average number of social and emotional problems in secondary school (Hall, 1963). From the available research, it is apparent that no clear-cut decision can be made regarding early admission.The following study proposed to examine whether children admitted early were successful in school, to define variables that contributed to school adjustment, and to encourage the use of empirical information in decision-making processes in educational settings. This was not designed as an experiment in the sense that one group received a unique treatment. Further, the investigators were clearly aware from the onset that the Requests for reprints should be addressed to John E. Obrzut,

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