A survey on the methods and system of detecting hearing loss in infants in Canada's Maritime Provinces is reported, and results are related to other research in Canada and the United States. Results are said to show inadequate detection. Recommendations, including increased collaboration between health and education professionals, are made. (CL)

A study examined the validity of the Screening Tool for Autism in Two-Year-Olds (STAT) as a stage 2 screening instrument in a clinic-based sample of two-year-olds with autism (n=12) and with nonautistic developmental disorders (n=21). Results provide preliminary support for the utility of the STAT as an early screening of autism. (Contains…

Information about early intervention was disseminated via mass media and group meetings. Findings revealed that parents attending group meetings learned specific information about available services and legal educational rights. Mass media stimulated requests for information but did not measurably affect parents' knowledge of early intervention.…

A survey interviewed parents of 77 children with severe to profound hearing loss while attending an educational program at an Illinois state residential school. The children had lower ages of identification than those reported in national studies and in an early study in Illinois. Delays in early intervention are discussed. (Contains references.)…

The brainstem auditory evoked potential (BAEP) was evaluated as a hearing screening test in 168 high-risk newborns. The BAEP was found to be a sensitive procedure for the early identification of hearing-impaired newborns. However, the yield of significant hearing abnormalities was less than predicted in other studies using BAEP. (Author/CL)

Analysis of home videotapes of autistic and normally developing children's first-year birthday parties found that autistic children displayed fewer social and joint attention behaviors and more autistic symptoms. Four behaviors (pointing, showing objects, looking at others, and orienting to name) correctly classified 10 of 11 autistic children and…

Concurrent and prospective correlations among reading, spelling, phonemic awareness, verbal memory, rapid serial naming, and IQ were examined in 19 students with reading disabilities and 36 controls at grades two and eight. The strongest predictors of reading disabilities were cognitive-linguistic measures, particularly rapid naming. (Author/CR)

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)

Studies the group decision-making process of the evaluation of preschool children with complex disabilities. Sequential application of processes was found to be influenced by the occurrence of a series of three cycles of decision making within each assessment and the decomposition of the assessment task into distinct subproblems. (Contains 67…

This study evaluated application of a revised criterion for the Language Development Survey, a parent-report screening measure designed to identify young children with language delays. The revised criterion generated fewer false positives, improved specificity, and improved positive predictive value while maintaining the high sensitivity and high…

Thirty-four (Study 1) and 37 (Study 2) pairs of three-year-old children with and without mild learning problems were presented with a battery of five or six simple cognitive tasks. Children without learning problems performed at a significantly higher level on 17 of the 18 measures. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

A study explored gender differences in neonatal transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) by comparing the reproducibility and amplitude of TEOAEs in 392 female and 435 male newborns. Results indicate female newborns had significantly higher response reproducibility and response amplitude. (Contains references.) (CR)

An unadjusted low-achievement criterion was compared with a regression-discrepancy criterion for identifying learning disabled children. The use of an unadjusted achievement raw score criterion resulted in misdiagnosing many children as learning disabled, while failing to identify many others. Different sets of predictor variables were associated…

In order to locate optimal cutoff scores for detecting developmental delays, the Brigance Screens were administered to 408 children (ages 21-48 months) along with a criterion battery measuring achievement and intelligence. The Receiver Operating Characteristic analyses were then used to locate optical cutoff scores for each form of the Brigance.…

This study examined the development of phonological and reading skills in 171 students from the beginning of first grade (Time 1) to the end of second grade (Time 4). The study found that reader group membership (nondisabled, reading disabled, or poor reading) at Time 4 could be very accurately predicted from students' Time 1 scores. (Author/DB)