The review examines five measures designed to assess autistic symptomatology: Rimland's Diagnostic Checklist for Behavior-Disturbed Children, the Behavior Rating Instrument for Autistic and Atypical Children, the Behavior Observation Scale for Autism, the Childhood Autism Rating Scale, and the Autism Behavior Checklist. Available studies of…

The State of Washington special education regulations address the eligibility determination for specific learning disabilities and require the development of regression tables for calculating a severe discrepancy between intellectual ability and academic achievement. The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) Special Education,…

The cognitive styles of 40 children (ages 8-17) with serious emotional disturbance (SED) were investigated via their performance on Planning-Attention-Simultaneous-Successive (PASS) model tasks as represented by the Das-Naglieri Cognitive Assessment System (CAS). In the study, the children with SED and 40 typical children were administered the 14…

This issue provides some general guidelines for lawyers to follow in advising a school district to consider referral of a student for special education assessment. It provides information on the evaluation and eligibility requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, case law addressing child find activities, and criteria for…

This document provides mental health professionals with information about the mental health needs and concerns of people who are hard of hearing and those who are late-deafened, i.e., deafened after language acquisition. Individual chapters address the following topics: (1) distinguishing differences among people with hearing loss (defining the…

These guidelines are intended to assist North Dakota educators in locating, identifying, and evaluating children and youth with special educational needs. They provide detailed information regarding required practices and recommended procedures in the areas of public awareness, child find, screening, referral, and the complete evaluation process.…

Used nonintellectual measures with demonstrated validity for screening of learning disabled and emotionally handicapped pupils to evaluate the feasibility of screening for potential educable mentally retarded (EMR) and gifted candidates. Results showed the screened group contained 91 percent of the low IQ group and 86 percent of the high IQ group.…

Problems in the identification and delivery of appropriate education to handicapped migrant students include lack of identification and lack of continuity of appropriate education. Potential corrective policy options in four areas (identification and records, programing, funding, and administration) are presented which could guarantee educational…

A medical assessment based on detailed historical data, a complete physical examination, developmental and neurological assessments, laboratory tests, and discussion with parents is the foundation for planning an effective educational program for the handicapped child. (CJ)

Discusses identification and evaluation guidelines under the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. To satisfy federal mandates concerning the placement of handicapped children, public school systems are required to utilize a least restrictive environment, whereby complete segregation of handicapped from nonhandicapped children is prohibited.…

Focus is on a conceptualization of initial assessment and consultation, the problem-solving paradigm as a framework for guiding this activity, and a description of procedures and initial data from a demonstration program. (Author/DLS)

A study investigated ways that each of the 50 states serve preschool children (ages 3-5) with specific learning disabilities (SLD), the impact of the preschool-specific/noncategorical label, and the quantitative criteria used for eligibility. Although all states reported that preschoolers with SLD could receive services, different eligibility…

Discusses the revised definition of mental retardation in a 1992 manual by the American Association on Mental Retardation. The key principles that provided the foundation for the development of the new definition are described, including the paradigm shift from facility-based to services-based to supports-based models. (CR)

Argues that an educational definition of mental retardation has to be sensitive to the motivational self-system and the self-regulatory processes that underpin performance of students with mental retardation. The theory of motivational orientation that explains the differences in students with intrinsic motivation or extrinsic motivation is…

Describes an instrument for identifying students with learning disabilities that was tested on more than a thousand Israeli students (grades 4-10) with and without reading and writing disabilities. The instrument was found to be valid in locating student disabilities in reading, writing, and visual recall. (CR)