In the past decade, American and Canadian pediatric societies have recommended that pediatric care clinicians follow a schedule of routine surveillance and screening for young children to detect conditions such as developmental delay, speech and language delays and disorders, and autism spectrum disorder. The goal of these recommendations is to…

The accuracy of 3 developmental screening tests administered to 89 young children was compared. The Battelle Developmental Inventory Screening Test was more accurate than the Academic Scale of the Developmental Profile-II and the Denver-II, identifying correctly 72% of children with difficulties and 76% of children without diagnoses. (Author/JDD)

Early intervention for children with autism is currently a politically and scientifically complex topic. Randomized controlled trials have demonstrated positive effects in both short-term and longer term studies. The evidence suggests that early intervention programs are indeed beneficial for children with autism, often improving developmental…

This study sought to differentiate pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDDNOS) from similar nonautistic disorders on the basis of a cognitive deficit, theory of mind (ToM), which is the ability to infer mental states in others, a deficit highly prevalent in autism, a disorder similar to PDDNOS. Results suggest that children…

This resource book assists in selecting appropriate instruments to use in assessing preschool children suspected of having disabilities. For each of the 68 tests reviewed, the following information is provided: author, publisher, copyright date, price, purpose, description, range of children, testing time, scoring, examiner, standardization,…

Students (ages 6-10, n=144), grouped by age and reading ability, were administered tasks with a demonstrated relationship to reading. The concept of dyslexia was supported only for the older group, for whom dyslexia appeared to be either a phonological deficit or a developmental lag. (Author/DB)

This unique resource provides a comprehensive review of current knowledge about phonological awareness, together with practical guidance for helping preschoolers to adolescents acquire needed skills. Up-to-date findings are synthesized on the development of phonological awareness; its role in literacy learning; and how it can be enhanced in…

The study evaluated developmental progress in three groups of infants (9-30 months) presenting Down syndrome (n=28), mild disability (n=16), or moderate/severe disabilities (n=16). To evaluate intervention impact, formulas that measure rate of development and change in rate of development were computed. Findings indicated rate change formulas were…

This paper describes the Revised Arena Format (RAF) and recommends its use in conducting multidisciplinary evaluations of young children suspected of developmental delays. The RAF appears to offer significant advantages in terms of behavior management, timeliness, and thoroughness. (Author/JDD)

An intensive early intervention program was evaluated by assessing gains made by 44 special needs children (age 2) in cognition, gross motor, fine motor, receptive language, and expressive language domains. Comparison of actual to predicted posttest scores did not reveal significant gains in any domains. In cognition, gross motor, and fine motor…

The article discusses problems inherent in using the developmental model in the implementation of programs for young children with disabilities, and proposes a reconceptualization based upon M. Lewis and M. Starr's salient responses model. The primary components of this model are presented, along with their implications for early intervention…

Two articles explore possibilities for collaboration between American and Asian researchers addressing disabilities in a worldwide context. The first article, by Mike Miles, is titled "Using Action-Oriented Disability Studies in Pakistan." It focuses on how information can be disseminated in informal, nontraditional (non-Western) ways.…

Provides editorial perspective on the selection of papers chosen for publication in the March 1988 IJBD. Emphasizes the multi-cultural mix of the papers which deal with a range of issues related to human development and the importance of rigorous life-span perspective regarding developmental disabilities. (RWB)

Actual and theoretical cases are presented in which the Battelle Developmental Inventory was used in infant assessment. Age-related discontinuities reveal that, for children whose chronological age abuts one of the cut-off points between age categories, radically different summary scores can be obtained from one day to the next despite identical…

Evaluation of integrated versus segregated schooling of 91 children with severe developmental disabilities found that integrated children spent less time with therapists, equal time with special education teachers, more time with other children, and less time alone. No differences were found on developmental skills; however, integrated children…