Although schools administer many assessments, there is a lack of consensus regarding the best way to combine different pieces of information to facilitate evidence-based decision-making, particularly within multitiered systems of support. Although largely unheard of in education, the nomogram is an evidence-based assessment tool that is widely…

The scoring scheme for the functional movement screen implicitly assumes that the factor structure is consistent, stable, and congruent across different populations. To determine if this is the case, we compared principal components analyses of three samples: a healthy, general population (n = 100), a group of varsity athletes (n = 101), and a…

Aims: This study aimed to (1) develop and validate the Chinese and English Handwriting Screening Test for Kindergarten Children (CHEST) to screen children for handwriting difficulties in their final year of kindergarten education in Hong Kong, and to (2) identify common types of problems encountered by those children before their formal primary…

The Behavior Expectation Discrepancy Tool (B-EDT) was designed to help early childhood teachers identify critical behavioral expectations within their classroom environments and possible problem behaviors that may impact a child's access to the environment. The tool allows them to determine if there is a behavioral problem when compared with…

This study reports the dimensionality and measurement invariance of a modified version of the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening for Preschoolers (PALS PreK). Practical constraints of conducting child assessments created an opportunity to develop a modified PALS PreK. The sample consisted of 1,168 children tested in a Southwestern state in…

The North Dakota Department of Public Instruction "Guidelines for Serving Students with Specific Learning Disabilities in the Education Setting" (ED591017) recognizes that dyslexia is associated with a specific learning disability in the area of basic reading skills. Students with dyslexia may have difficulty not only with reading, but…

Purpose: Self-selection and self-avoidance of certain foods is one possible indicator of preclinical (prior to any clinical intervention) dysphagia in healthy older adults. Self-selection of food choices is influenced by changes in a combination of factors, including neuromuscular, sensory, and individual patient characteristics. Changes to these…

Background: Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents; age-adjusted suicide rate increased 30% from 2000-2016. Medical illnesses are a known risk factor for suicide, establishing medical settings as a key venue for detecting suicide risk. Nurses have the potential to play a critical role in early detection of medically ill…

The Phonics Screening Check (PSC) was introduced in England in 2012 for Year 1 children (aged 5 and 6). There have been criticisms of the check in relation to its reliability and appropriateness as an assessment for early reading, although advocates of the check see it as a valuable tool in securing progress in early reading. This mixed methods…

Discerning the seriousness of socioemotional symptoms in young children can be difficult. To address this issue, the Attention, Behavior, Language, and Emotions (ABLE) universal behavioral health screener uses a rubric for severity that includes indicators of problem duration, impairment, generalizability, exacerbation, persistence, peer…

Background: Health insurance access and health literacy are critical components of "enabling resources" to encourage uptake of services. We sought to test whether health literacy boosts health services utilization in the context of expanded access to health insurance stemming from the Affordable Care Act. Method: We used individual-level…

Knowledge of functional groups provides students with a language for organic chemistry. However, students in a health science chemistry course do not plan to be synthetic organic chemists and, therefore, need examples of how functional group chemistry is relevant to their vocational goals. We have developed a lab to demonstrate how simple…

Youth in juvenile justice facilities may experience symptoms of mental health disorders and trauma at a higher rate than their normative peers. As a result, juvenile justice facilities have become de facto mental health agencies, resulting in an increased need to provide interventions that can meet the various needs of their residents. Embedding…

Office discipline referrals (ODRs) are a data source commonly used by school teams to identify students who need behavioral intervention. In this brief, the National Center on Intensive Intervention (NCII) and the Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) provide a brief synthesis of the research on using ODRs has a…

Purpose: No diagnostic tools exist for identifying social (pragmatic) communication disorder (SPCD), a new "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition" category for individuals with social communication deficits but not the repetitive, restricted behaviors and interests (RRBIs) that would qualify them for a…