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…

Each year, approximately 100,000 refugees arrive in the United States (Refugee Council USA). Nearly half of these arrivals are children. The number of refugees worldwide has more than sextupled since the 1950s, and according to the United States Committee for Refugees and immigrants (USCRI) this number is expected to continue to grow in coming…

This monograph presents extensive abstracts of 49 papers on developmental approaches to identifying exceptional ability. Sample topics include: the gifted population in prison; identification of gifted rural children; use of the Stanford-Binet for identification; student characteristics and placement into special programs for the highly gifted;…

Discusses research related to identifying early predictors of school success or intelligence. Reports on a study that suggested correlations exist between how babies process information (visual attentiveness) in the first six months of life and the child's performance on intelligence tests in school. (ML)

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)

A follow-up study of 268 adolescents was conducted to determine predictors of disabilities. Parental traits were more accurate predictors of adolescent status than the child's own behavior from birth to 3 years, whereas child-centered skills assessed at 4 and 7 years of age were better predictors than familial factors. (Author/JDD)

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…

This study of 102 individuals with autism found that the brainstem and cerebellum increased in size with age but were significantly smaller in autistic patients than in controls. Analysis of the speed of development suggests that brainstem and vermian abnormalities in autism were due to an early insult and hypoplasia rather than to progressive…

This paper outlines a qualitative research tool designed to explore personal identity formation as described by Erik Erikson and offers self-reflective and anonymous evaluative comments made by college students after completing this task. Subjects compiled a list of 200 myths, customs, fables, rituals, and beliefs from their family of origin and…

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)

The concurrent validity of the Battelle Developmental Inventory was explored by correlating Battelle results with scores from the Bayley Scales in 30 infants with known or suspected disabilities. Both the pattern and strength of the obtained correlations support use of the Battelle to measure development in infants with handicaps. (Author/JDD)

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…

Two forms of the Battelle Developmental Inventory, intended for use with handicapped and nonhandicapped children ages 0-8, are examined. The instruments measure personal-social, adaptive, motor, communication, and cognitive skills, for use in screening, diagnosis, identification, assessment, and program evaluation. The paper discusses test…

This study evaluated an Extended Optional Infinitive theory of specific language impairment (SLI) in children, which suggests that SLI children omit finiteness markers longer than do normally developing children. Comparison of 18 SLI 5-year olds with 2 normally developing groups (ages 5 and 3) found that SLI subjects omitted finiteness markers…

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,…