This literature review found little information on the marital status of parents of gifted children and widespread perceptions that most gifted children live in intact, middle to upper-middle class families. The need for data on possible under-nomination of children of divorce in programs for the gifted and on the validity of current…

This paper reviews research findings and research needs in the area of identification of gifted students from disadvantaged and culturally diverse groups. The Frasier Talent Assessment Profile system is presented as a way to utilize data from test and nontest sources to identify these children. (JDD)

The IDEA reauthorization of 2004 highlights the application of responsiveness to intervention (RTI) to both early intervention (EI) service delivery and learning disabilities (LD) identification practices, creating the potential for wide-scale execution. Implementation of any educational reform necessitates more than simply changing practices: It…

Early screening programs to determine learning problems in preschool children are evaluated. A review of early identification literature indicates considerable difficulty in describing screening results and determining when a screening program accurately identifies those students believed to be "at risk." The authors propose several…

The paper argues that listeners are unable to judge unit-by-unit occurrences of stuttering acceptably. Reasons for this state of affairs and its implications for therapy, theory, and research are analyzed. An alternative speech production definition with its implications is proposed, and a diagnostic method of validating authentic stuttering is…

This paper reviews 20 studies that investigated the internal or external validity of various subtypes of autistic spectrum disorders. At least three groups could be distinguished from autism on clinical grounds: an Asperger syndrome subtype, and two atypical subtypes characterized by either low intelligence quotient or high intelligence quotient.…

This paper describes current neurological knowledge regarding the recognition, diagnosis, and classification of frontal lobe seizures, and then critiques a study by A. Gedye which suggested that self-injury may be involuntary and related to frontal lobe seizure activity. (JDD)

This article reviews the efforts made since 1962 to define learning disabilities, discusses 11 prominent definitions, identifies important conceptual elements on which the definitions differ, and calls for a consensual acceptance of the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities definition. (PB)

One of the major developmental tasks of adolescence is establishing a unified self-concept, or identity. Four identity statuses (conceptualized by J. E. Marcia as identity achievement, foreclosure, identity diffused and moratorium) are related to (1) the presence or absence of crisis, and (2) a resulting commitment to goals. To examine the…

Discusses the usefulness of information from parents in the identification of young children with handicaps. Includes: (1) a rationale for the use of information from parents; (2) description of methods used to gather information; and (3) a review of research that has determined the accuracy of parental information. (RJC)

Review of 48 articles and books on attention deficit disorder (ADD) found a total of 69 characteristics and 38 causes cited, evidencing no clearcut pattern for identifying the condition and little agreement for what causes ADD. The label appears to have limited value for communication, planning, decision making, or research efforts. (Author/DB)

Although the study of self-selected ethnic labels may aid scientists in their understanding of an ethnic group, the uncoordinated use of ethnic labels applied by social scientists and others can result in confusion and misinformation. A literature review yields a plethora of terms used to refer to Mexican Americans. Terms currently popular are…

In a study by Toshiaki Hashimoto and colleagues (EC 611 142), 10 infants with developmental delay, poor eye contact, and poor facial expression underwent magnetic resonance brain imaging and were later diagnosed with autism. This offered direct evidence of abnormality of the cerebellar vermis and the brainstem at the beginning stages of behavioral…

This review looks at the impact of word finding deficits, psycholinguistic considerations in naming (including relevant intrinsic and extrinsic variables), behaviors indicative of word finding difficulty, screening for word finding disorders in the classroom, direct assessment (both formal and informal), individual differences, and word retrieval…

For successful classification of children with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, major issues include (1) the need for explicit studies of identification criteria; (2) the need for systematic sampling strategies; (3) development of hypothetical classifications; and (4) systematic assessment of reliability and validity of hypothetical…