Currently there is an increase in the number of articles published in scientific journals and in the popular scientific media that claim a biological basis for sex differences in cognition and in certain structures in the brain. It can be argued that there is over-emphasis on the differences rather than similarities between the sexes, but it is even more important to question the assumed causation of the differences. This paper discusses recent evidence for an interactive role of early experience and hormonal condition in determining sex differences in brain structure and function. Although early studies using rats were thought to show that the male sex hormone, testosterone, acts on the brain in early life to direct its differentiation into either the male or female form, it is know known that this result comes about indirectly by changing the mother’s behaviour towards the pups. The hormone does not act on the brain directly but rather it alters the environment in which the young animals are rasied and this, in turn, influences the development of the brain. Indeed, the brain is in dynamic register with its environment both during development and in adulthood. Other examples also show that old ideas of rigid biological determination of brain structure and function need to be laid aside.

The hypotheses for hormonal causation of sex differences humans rely heavily, if not exclusively, on the earlier interpretation of the experiments with rats, and there seems to be resistance to changing these notions based on the new discoveries. Apparently, there is strong pressure to cling on to biological determinist theories for sex differences in behaviour, and this has profound effects on social and educational policy. For example, biological determinism has been used to justify under representation of women in certain professions. Realisation of the dramatic effects that environmental stimulation and learning can have on the development of brain and behaviour leads us to an optimistic position for social change towards equality for women.

The results of independent field trials of the Individualised Classroom Environment Questionnaire are presented based on testing nearly 1500 high school students in NSW schools. The findings from this study are very similar to those originally presented by Fraser (1990) and hence constitute independent confirmatory evidence supporting its more widespread use in classroom research.

This paper reports a comparison between United States norms and the Australian Checknorms of the Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales, and the implications for the diagnosis of intellectual disability. One hundred and twenty-five children with developmental disabilities aged between 4 and 10 years received two separate diagnoses relating to intellectual disability. One was based on their level of intellectual functioning plus their Adaptive Behaviour Composite score calculated using the United States norms of the Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales. A second diagnosis was based on their level of intellectual functioning and an adjusted Adaptive Behaviour Composite score using the Australian Checknorms. The results indicated that there was a significant difference between scores and that this difference was clinically meaningful in 10.4% of the subjects. For a small and statistically non-significant number of children (five) the difference between scores led to a change in diagnosis from intellectually disabled to not intellectually disabled. Implications for the assessment of children with developmental disabilities are discussed.

Neuropsychological assessement of children with ADHD is reviewed in the light of recent research and clincial practice. Traditional psychometric approaches may fail to reveal dificiencies in such children and perfomance levels have to be considered with care due to teh potential confounding effects of attention deficit. Examination of qualitative features of preformance and extension of the range of assessment instruments to include those more sensitive to frontal systems dysfunction are proposed. The distinction between ADHD and specific learning disorders on the basis of neuropsychological assessment and the application in educational management is discussed.

This paper reviews the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale 4th Edition (SB-4) and compares and contrasts it with the instrument it supersedes, the Stanford-Binet 3rd Edition (L-M) (SB-3). Specific emphasis is placed on the use of the SB-4 with children and adolescents with intellectual disability. It can differentiate between intellectually disabled children and adolescents who have Down syndrome, and those who have other etiologies.

This paper summarises problems that university students, particularly those in the technically-oriented, professional disciplines, have when they write. Discussion centres on how strategic knowledge of discourse structure enhances what these students understand of processes associated with producing text and learning from it and how these understandings can be utilised to their benefit. The concept of top-level structure and advantages resulting from applying this concpets are discussed. Guidelines for incorporating the teaching of this knowledge into a technical writing course are suggested. Finally, there is a discussion of the relationship between this metacognitive knowledge and changes in student learning.