This article explains the clause in the Individuals with Disabilities Act, 1990 (Public law 94-142) excluding from special education services students whose primary problem is an emotional disturbance. The history of the regulation is provided. (SM)

Narratives of children from different Spanish-speaking backgrounds illustrate that children's atypical narrative performance may reflect individual or cultural differences. It is suggested that static assessments may not differentiate narrative differences from disorders. A dynamic assessment model to predict the child's true language learning…

Systems for classifying speakers' communicative intents are typically limited in scope, in applicability across the full developmental range of language abilities and disabilities, and in their theoretical foundations. Criteria for an adequate system for analyzing communicative intents are discussed, and a system is proposed which meets those…

Offers guidelines to teachers for identifying depression in students with mental retardation. Discusses prevalence and symptoms of depression, causes of depression, difficulty of diagnosis in students with mental retardation, detecting symptoms in the classroom, treatment of depression, and psychological services. Inserts list ideas for helping…

Addresses the problems resulting from the frequent co-occurrence of dyslexia and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. The importance of identifying comorbidity before planning and implementing educational programs is stressed and implications for diagnosis and intervention are drawn. (DB)

School study teams' use of results from traditional psychoeducational measures in determining eligibility for special education is examined. Three groups of students were studied: (1) learning disabled (N=47); (2) mildly mentally retarded (N=43); (3) low achievers (N=60). Relatively low agreement was found between eligibility and research…

Discusses how cross-gender misunderstanding can affect the educational process and can result in boys being mislabeled as emotionally and/or behaviorally disordered for displaying strong traditional male behavioral patterns. The tendency for boys to challenge authority and to display aggression is examined, along with the overrepresentation of…

This article describes individual differences in phases of writing development between typical students and students with language learning problems. Using an illustrative case study of a 10-year-old, the article demonstrates how school-based writing samples can serve as a dynamic tool for analysis of interactions among the linguistic and…

To illustrate past practices in the assessment of children with communication disorders, this article presents a case study from 1967 and then reviews advances since then in assessing children for language and speech disorders. The benefits of dynamic assessment are discussed and steps in dynamic assessment approaches are explained. (CR)

A study examined the identification rate of mental retardation, learning disabilities, speech or language impairments, and emotional disturbance of 4,161 Head Start children as they completed first grade. Only 26% of the children meeting research diagnostic criteria in these four major categories were identified by the schools. (Author/CR)

Discusses the importance of nurturing alliances between specialists and families within the context of developmental assessments. Five axioms with family stories illustrate how specialists and families can collaborate during assessments to ensure that services include families and promote acquisition of knowledge in natural settings. (Author/CR)

The performance on a cognitive screening test of 37 children (ages 4-6) with mild mental retardation or learning disabilities was compared to their peers. The tasks constituting the initial version of the battery were evaluated in terms of their classification accuracy and yielded a set of five different cognitive tasks. (CR)

Reviews the debate from the standpoint of entitlement about the education of children who are classified as seriously emotionally disturbed or socially maladjusted. It examines how research has supported or contradicted the notion of entitlement from the standpoint of prevalence, classification, intervention, and cost. Ethical guidelines are…

This article reviews "ADHD with Comorbid Disorders: Clinical Assessment and Management" by Steven R. Pliszka, Caryn L. Carlson, and James M. Swanson, a book that provides information on children displaying both attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and other comorbid psychiatric conditions, complex psychopharmacological interventions that may…

This article examines whether changes in the ethnic minority composition of the standardization sample for the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III (PPVT-III) can be used as the sole explanation for children's better test scores when compared to an earlier edition. Analysis suggests other factors may explain improved performance. (Contains…