Reviews the language basis of reading disabilities and provides a checklist of language deficits frequently associated with reading disabilities. Areas assessed include: word retrieval, verbal memory, speech production, comprehension, expressive language, and speech sound awareness. The checklist is designed for early identification of reading…

Outlines problems related to defining and classifying children with learning disabilities and describes the pitfalls of current assessment procedures, particularly the problems with discrepancy scores. Presents dynamic assessment as an alternative to classification procedures and reviews the results of two studies evaluating dynamic assessment.…

Describes a proposed model for considering sensory processing as an important factor in young children's performance. Discusses ways the model can be used to provide a framework for understanding various patterns of behavior; identify disabilities (poor registration, sensitivity to stimuli, sensation seeking, and sensation avoiding); and develop…

A study explored the construct of general anxiety in 69 individuals with severe and profound mental retardation and evaluated the validity of the DASH-II anxiety subscale to determine its value in categorizing individuals with and without anxiety. Results indicated only behavioral symptoms associated with anxiety could be reliably assessed.…

This paper reviews ongoing research designed to specify the cognitive, behavioral, and neuroanatomical phenotypes of specific genetic etiologies of learning disability. The genetic disorders at the focus of the research include reading disability, neurofibromatosis type 1, Tourette syndrome, and fragile X syndrome. Implications for identifying…

A preschool screening battery was presented to a sample of 198 children with and without mild learning problems. Cross-sample test validation was demonstrated when 81% of both groups were correctly classified. Interrater reliability of 80% or greater on all but one of the tasks was demonstrated. (Contains references.) (Author/PB)

Investigates construct, predictive, and differential validity for the Comprehensive Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary Test (CREVT). Adequate construct validity for the CREVT was documented, using the Wechsler Intelligence Test for Children-III as a criterion. Also, the CREVT effectively differentiated between students with disabilities. These…

After identification of an alternative model of the School Social Behavior Scales, the invariance of the new model was tested with half of the original standardization sample (n=2,047). Both scales performed well and resulted in models very similar to those originally proposed by the author of the instrument. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

To assess diagnostic accuracy and test-retest reliability, two forms of a nonword repetition task were administered to 22 preschool children with specific language impairment and 22 controls. Nonword repetition scores provided excellent sensitivity and specificity for discrimination. Scores on nonword repetition and digit span tasks improved from…

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…

Ratings on the Autism Behavior Checklist for 18 children (ages 9-16) with normal intelligence and infantile autism or infantile autism, residual state, revealed that all subjects met the cutoff score for autism or borderline autism on retrospective ratings, but 14 received current ratings below the cutoff. The Autism Diagnostic Interview ruled out…

A discriminant analysis of characteristics of students with behavioral disorders in three progressively more intensive placements indicated that age at time of diagnosis was the strongest discriminating variable contributing to placement outcomes. Younger, brighter students tended to be mainstreamed, and older students with more externalizing…

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)

Attempts to better identify the at-risk children with reading disabilities to aid in early intervention before they encounter the years of reading failure usually associated with a formal diagnosis of reading disabilities. Tries to develop a small set of phonological, letter, and memory tasks that would reliably identify children likely to develop…

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)