The performance of 90 children between the ages of four and six years on two language screening tests was compared with their performance on Developmental Sentence Scoring (DSS) to determine the accuracy of these screening tests in identifying language impairments. The Bankson Language Screening Test was generally accurate in the identification of…

The Ozawa Behavioral Rating Scale contains six items related to distractibility and nine items related to impulsivity. This validity study showed that the Scale shows statistically significant relationships with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children--Revised and the Matching Familiar Figures Test and may be appropriate for identifying…

The author summarized major variables for states to deal with in statewide planning efforts for the education of the hearing impaired. (Author/SW)

The author traces efforts to define and redefine learning disabilities (LD). The inclusion of children in LD classes who do not meet requirements of the definition is seen as a common yet dangerous practice. (CL)

Problems with restricting learning disabilities to a range of mild handicaps are noted and five areas of controversy affecting severely learning disabled students are addressed: definitions, student characteristics, identification criteria, educational methods and technology, and educational services. (CL)

More than 85 percent of the physicians surveyed indicated they are the initial informants to parents regarding the existence of a handicap and the information is immediately presented after birth to both parents, including specific diagnostic labels, possible causation, prognosis, and resources for the family. (Author)

The utility of the procedures special educators apply in making decisions about the identification of handicapped individuals has not been thoroughly studied. The paper examines the utility of diagnostic decision making from the perspective of receiver operating curve analysis. (Author)

Human and geometric forms were presented to 12-month-old male infants to determine if infants with a large number of minor physical anomalies would show different habituation than infants with a small number. Differences were found in dishabituation and in response decrement. (Author/RH)

Journal availability: UNICEF, Villa Le Bocage, Palais des Nations, 1211 Geneve 10, Suisse. (Author)

The paper explores several issues which effect the accurate assessment of language and reading disorders and, thus, of discrepancy between expected potential and actual achievement. For related information see EC 132 758-768. (Author)

Early identification of handicapped rural children is difficult due to the scarcity of rural preschools, medical and human services, and education about the handicapped. This article defines early identification, delineates its four steps and the significant and divergent approaches to it, noting advantages and disadvantages of developmental…

To better identify the auditory strengths of elementary school children, a test was developed using a pure tone approach with sets of signals. (SBH)

Results demonstrate that the second-level screening procedure is an effective method for ferreting out children in need of full-scale psychological evaluation to determine areas of handicapping condition and generation of appropriate services. (Author)

The authors critique the Warnock Report on Special Education for its limited focus, the nature of the evidence used, and its conclusions and recommendations about classifying and identifying students in need of special education services, which the authors feel deal too exclusively with psychological and medical issues, ignoring social contexts.…

Intake placement data were collected from the files of 1,966 students labeled and served as learning disabled in Child Service Demonstration Centers (CSDC) in 22 states. There appeared to be a lack of consistency in the characteristics of students labeled learning disabled. (Author)