Auditory screening programs designed to detect hearing problems among school children are outlined, including the test environments, equipment and personnel, and cost factors. Despite criticism of pure-tone audiometric screening programs, there is evidence that they have been generally successful. (JMF)

The position is taken that the system identification of educable mentally retarded (EMR) children is designed to find children for service delivery and is not intended to identify a population with known parameters. (Author)

The authors suggest that the Rules and Regulations of P.L. 94-142 (the Education for All Handicapped Children Act) for the development and implementation of child identification systems present severe policy problems for state planners. (Author/CL)

Describes some common vision problems and lists classroom behavior symptoms which may help the classroom teacher to detect a child with poor vision. (SJL)

The regular classroom teacher's role in the identification of learning-disabled children is important but often difficult. Identification is facilitated, however, by recognition of a pattern of symptoms rather than one single sign. (Author/GC)

The McCarthy Scales, which were designed to assess general intellectual abilities in the 2 1/2 to 8 1/2 age-range, are described and criticized on the basis of substantial experience in their use as a research instrument. It is concluded that they are particularly useful for the assessment of the preschooler. (Author)

This study compared 21 children with pervasive developmental disorders (autism group) with 15 children with fragile X syndrome on the Childhood Autism Rating Scale and the Reiss Scales for Children's Dual Diagnosis. Seven of the fragile X children also scored in the autism range and were more impaired than the other fragile X children. (Contains…

This study compared level of agreement among four models used to diagnose learning disabilities (LD), including the simple discrepancy, intraindividual, intellectual ability-achievement, and underachievement models. The simple discrepancy model diagnosed significantly more college students with LD than the others. The highest agreement was between…

This article discusses the accuracy of bone-conduction auditory brainstem response (BC-ABR) tests to determine the presence and severity of conductive hearing impairment. It provides warnings about technical pitfalls and recommends incorporating BC-ABR protocols for routine clinical use. It concludes that the method allows estimating cochlear…

A total of 1,446 elementary school children were screened with the Systematic Screening for Behavior Disorders (SSBD) procedure. Results indicated that the SSBD could accurately and efficiently identify children in need of special services, and was viewed as cost efficient because it could proactively screen all students in an acceptable amount of…

This reprint (from a 1961 article) and excerpt (from a 1977 paper) recommend definitions of various terms in the field of mental retardation, such as subaverage, organic retardation, and functional retardation and argue that incidence and prevalence estimates of mental retardation vary so remarkably and change so frequently to fit certain…

Simultaneous recordings of auditory brainstem and middle latency responses were obtained in both vertex-ipsilateral and vertex-contralateral derivations in 22 children, ages 8-12. For specific recording conditions, the latencies of middle latency responses differ significantly between children with and without learning disabilities, offering…

This commentary offers a rationale for reprinting an 1866 essay by J. L. H. Down (EC 610 641) in which Down's syndrome is delineated and a clinical description of "mongoloid idiocy" is provided. The article deplores the dehumanizing ideology that has changed its terms over the decades but has persisted in practices of marginalization and control.…

Over 2,500 preschool children were screened for emotional and behavioral problems using the three-state, multiple-gating procedures of the Early Screening Project (ESP). Significant differences were found between children who did and did not exceed the ESP's normative referral criteria. Results suggest the ESP procedures can minimize both the time…

A study involving 11 elementary and 9 middle schools illustrates how office discipline referrals can be used to indicate the status of school-wide discipline, and how schools can use the information to modify their universal interventions for all students and their targeted interventions for students with severe behavior problems. (Contains…