The Proposed Specifiers for Conduct Disorder (PSCD) assesses psychopathy components of grandiose-manipulative (GM), callous-unemotional (CU), daring-impulsive (DI), and conduct disorder (CD). Research on PSCD is still in its infancy, and further research is necessary to examine its psychometric properties. We investigated the correlations between…

Bullying has deleterious effects on the health of youth, families, schools, and communities. These effects are especially pronounced for youth with special education needs specific to emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). Much of what is understood concerning the effects of bullying has been limited to face-to-face contexts. Despite the…

The Children's Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (CY-BOCS) is the instrument of choice for assessing symptom severity in older children (i.e., 8-18 years) diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The reliability and validity of this measure for use among younger children (i.e., 5-8 years of age), however, has never been examined.…

Throughout the United States, schools and entire school districts are implementing school-wide positive behavioral supports. This systemic, team-based approach often employs assessment tools such as The Effective Behavioral Support Survey (Sugai, Todd, & Horner, 2000) as part of its implementation to improve school-wide discipline. The EBS…

A study of 233 individuals with severe mental retardation examined the validity of the Diagnostic Assessment for the Severely Handicapped-II (DASH-II) through correlation with the Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC). DASH-II as a whole was found to have a high degree of convergent validity with the ABC total score. (CR)

This study examined the relationship between scores on the Behaviour Disorder Scale (BDS) and other assessments of challenging behavior in 100 adolescent and adult Australians with intellectual disabilities. The study found that the BDS was reliable and could be used to identify people with intellectual disabilities who exhibit behavioral…

Objective: To examine the test-retest reliability of a new interviewer-based psychiatric diagnostic measure (the Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment) for use with parents of preschoolers 2 to 5 years old. Method: A total of 1,073 parents of children attending a large pediatric clinic completed the Child Behavior Checklist 1 1/2-5. For 18 months,…

Data are reported on the long-term (6-month) test-retest reliability of the Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale (BERS), which is a strength-based assessment instrument. Participants included 95 typical elementary students and 26 children at risk of having or having emotional or behavioral disorders. Moderate to high test-retest correlations were…

Background: This study describes the development of the Brief Child and Family Phone Interview (BCFPI)--a computer-assisted telephone interview which adapts the revised Ontario Child Health Study's (OCHS-R) parent, teacher, and youth self-report scales for administration as intake screening and treatment outcome measures in children's mental…

This paper reports on the development of a scale to identify a child's emotional and behavioral skills, competencies, and characteristics, the Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale: A Strength-Based Approach to Assessment (BERS). The BERS is a 52-item scale that identifies strengths in five areas: interpersonal strengths, family involvement,…

This article discusses evidence for functional behavioral assessment (FBA) procedures in terms of the meaning and interpretation of different forms of reliability and validity in FBA. It concludes that additional research needs to be conducted with various target behaviors across different settings to support the continued use of FBA. (Contains…

This study examines the reliability and validity of various behavior rating scales, side effects checklists, and an ecobehavioral observation system used to study self-injurious behavior among persons with mental retardation. Findings from testing with 30 adults suggest that further refinement is necessary to reliably and sensitively assess the…

The purpose of this study was to develop standardization data for the Functional Assessment Intervention Program (FAIP; University of Utah, Utah State University, & Utah State Office of Education, 1999), a computerized, functional behavioral assessment expert system. Reliability, validity, and utility analyses were conducted with students serving…

Background: This study examines the use of the Brief Child and Family Phone Interview (BCFPI) to screen for childhood psychiatric disorder based on Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children Version IV (DISC-IV) classifications of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), conduct disorder (CD),…

Twenty-four studies involving functional assessment of students with emotional and behavioral disorders (E/BD) or those at risk for E/BD are reviewed in three main areas: (1) characteristics of participants; (2) types of functional assessment procedures and instruments employed; and (3) the reliability and validity of these instruments and…