Assessment is a crucial component of gifted education. Not only does it facilitate the recognition of the potential and specific needs of gifted students, it also monitors the progress and growth of gifted students, and allows for the evaluation of gifted education programs. In the present review, we synthesize the literature on assessment in…

Over half of the children in the U.S. experience adversity early in childhood. These experiences, along with conditions in their families and neighborhoods, have profound developmental effects. The bioecological model of development includes these proximal contexts in a theory of development that incorporates the threats and supports present in…

We review the development of the Jamaican home visiting intervention for children under 4 years and its evidence base. The intervention has focused on supporting mothers to promote the development of their children through interacting in a responsive way, labelling the environment and activities. The curriculum is structured and cognitively…

Background: Psychiatric problems are common in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), but the reasons are poorly understood. We use a longitudinal population-representative cohort to examine for the first time the persistence of psychiatric problems and to identify risk factors for their occurrence and stability. Methods: Eighty-one 16-year olds (75…

The field of intelligence testing has been revolutionized by Alan S. Kaufman. He developed the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) with David Wechsler, and his best-selling book, Intelligent Testing with the WISC-R, introduced the phrase "intelligent testing." Kaufman, with his wife, Nadeen, then created his own…

In order to initiate appropriate programs for screening, early intervention, and meaningful psycho-educational programs, a children's community mental health center in Harlem, where over 95 percent of its clientele is black and/or Spanish speaking, requires, for all its referrals, an accurate assessment of intellectual strengths via an IQ battery.…

In a study to learn whether or not poor nutrition, as indicated by low hemoglobin levels, affects intelligence and behavior, 113 Head Start children in Missoula, Montana took part. Group testing with the Lorge Thorndike Intelligence Test and individual testing with the Wechsler and Primary Scale of Intelligence or Wechsler Intelligence Scale for…

The paper discusses test bias; presents the rationale of the System of Multicultural Pluralistic Assessment (SOMPA), a test instrument which assumes equal cultural and racial intellectual potential but asserts that there is not one normal curve of measured intellectual performance; and suggests that the test would correct racial and cultural test…

Evaluated the test bias of the Verbal IQ as measured by the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised in relation to predictions of academic achievement in two different socioeconomic status groups. Results indicated that Verbal IQs are not biased with respect to socioeconomic status. (Author)

One hundred culturally disadvantaged children were tested on culture-fair (Raven) and culturally biased (WISC) tests, and scores were correlated with academic achievement. (Author)

WISC subtest scores of children from rural mountainous cultural areas were higher for performance skills (object assembly, picture completion) than for verbal skills (information, similarities), suggesting that social and economic deprivation influence verbal comprehension abilities more than perceptual organization skills. (RL)

Recommendations and criticisms are made which might result in a more reliable assessment of the Puerto Rican child's intelligence as measured by the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC). Many of these recommendations and criticisms involve typographical and grammatical errors, incorrect language usage, difficulty of item sequence and…

A cross-sectional study of 292 first and fifth grade Negro and white children examined the relationship between environmental factors and performance test scores of verbal and cognitive ability. The socioeconomic status (SES) of each subject was determined and included in a deprivation index formed by obtaining a composite score for each subject…

Traditional measures of intelligence frequently yield low scores when applied to disadvantaged subjects. This study tests whether similar findings would result from measures of developmental behavior. Accordingly, the developmental behavior of 159 culturally disadvantaged children (85 boys, 74 girls) was assessed by systematic interviewing of…

This study examines cultural bias in the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. Results indicated no evidence of specific factors peculiar to Blacks v Whites, and rank order of item difficulties was similar in both groups. Race differences were due to differences in mental maturity rather than to test bias. (Author/RD)