Describes the development of the Children's Social Behavior Questionnaire (CSBQ), an instrument designed to provide an extensive list of behaviors frequently observed in children with Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified. The successful results of the CSBQ in distinguishing the characteristics of this disability are reported.…

A study involving 103 children (ages 5-17) examined the clinical utility of the ADHD Symptom Checklist-4 (ADHD-SC4), a screening measure for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Findings support the internal consistency and validity of the ADHD-SC4 as a screening instrument for ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder, and aggressive…

Four independent samples of children were used to study the reliability and validity of the Writing Essential Skill Screener, a measure designed to screen primary grade children at risk for writing difficulties. Among findings was that the measure is comprised of two dimensions, writing and name writing, that the factor structure did not fit the…

This article describes the development and psychometric properties of an inventory to assess cognitive appraisal of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) disability application process, the Disability Application Appraisal Inventory (DAAI). Participants were 439 veterans seeking disability status for posttraumatic stress disorder through the VA…

Language-disordered (N=30) and linguistically-normal (N=30) first- through third-graders judged the grammatical acceptability of sentences (and attempted to correct those they judged ungrammatical). Results indicated that the judgment task was capable of effectively separating language-disordered and linguistically-normal children at specific age…

Comparison of Test of Early Language Development (TELD) scores of developmentally-delayed three- to six-year-olds (N=85) with other language and cognition measures indicated that TELD scores documented language delays, correlating strongly with other language measures, but failed to accurately classify subjects clinically classified as…

The validity of Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) Verbal-Mathematical discrepancies as indicators of college learning disability (LD) was assessed for four groups of LD students (Total N about 5000) taking different test formats. Comparison with non-LD student scores indicated no evidence of larger discrepancies for the LD groups. (Author/DB)

Examined the diagnostic utility of two patterns of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised in differentiating 64 emotionally impaired children (ages 5 to 18) from 290 controls. Data analysis showed neither the high similarities-low information or verbal-performance discrepancy patterns yielded a useful rule for diagnosing emotional…

The purpose of the study was to determine whether, by item analyses, a miniscreening test could be derived from the 23-item Screening Test of Adolescent Language (STAL). The miniscreening test is recommended for large scale screening with students from the 6th through 12th grades. (Author)

Asserts that although no instrument has proved sufficiently robust to recommend universal screening, screening instruments for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can play an important role. Discusses the clinical issues raised in screening for a developmental disorder, including risk status, management advice, and availability of services. Asserts…

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.…

A study involving 30 Argentineans with autism evaluated the validity of the Autism Diagnostic Inventory-Telephone Screening in Spanish (ADI-TSS). The final version of the ADI-TSS could be assessed in 20 to 40 minutes and demonstrated a high validity, high interrater reliability, and high internal consistency. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

This study assessed the interrater reliability of a Swedish version of the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), an instrument for screening and diagnosis of autism. The CARS was used for rating autistic behavior by two investigators in 25 children. Results indicated fair to excellent agreement. Aspects of validity and reliability are discussed.…

This paper presents results of analyses of a questionnaire constructed for parents to detect student motivational problems and behavior patterns which may suggest an attention deficit disorder. Cross tabulations and analyses of variance demonstrated the scale's power to identify children with attention deficits. (DB)

Two studies on young children are reported that address the psychometric characteristics of the Scale for Assessing Emotional Disturbance (SAED). Results from the studies indicate that the SAED is a reliable and valid instrument for identifying young children who may qualify for the federal definition of emotional disturbance. (Contains…