Approximately 30% of autistic children are considered minimally verbal. The field lacks an efficient and reliable measure of communicative capacity among minimally verbal autistic children. Improved methods are needed to determine which children are at greatest risk for minimally verbal outcomes to better target interventions. Here, we present the…

Many states now mandate early screening for dyslexia, but vary in how they address these mandates. There is confusion about the nature of screening versus diagnostic assessments, risk versus diagnosis, concurrent versus predictive validity, and inattention to indices of classification accuracy as the basis for determining risk. To help define what…

Language skills developed during preschool contribute strongly to later reading and academic achievement. Effective preschool assessment and intervention should focus on core components of language development, specifically oral language skills. The Early Language and Literacy Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IGDIs) are a set of…

Language skills developed during preschool contribute strongly to later reading and academic achievement. Effective preschool assessment and intervention should focus on core components of language development, specifically oral language skills. The Early Language and Literacy Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IGDIs) are a set of…

Adapted the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test to facilitate administration to low-functioning autistic children who do not have a pointing response. Autistic (N=10) and preschool-aged children (N=20) were given the standard form and the adapted form. Results supported the use of the published norms for the adapted version. (Author/RC)

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a Mexican version of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test could be improved by directly translating both forms of the American test, then using decision procedures to select the better item of each pair. The reliability of the simple translations suffered. (Author/BW)

Spanish translations of English forms of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary test were compared experimentally. Spanish-speaking children scored higher on the English version. Significant interactions of trial x form and trial x language were found. This local Spanish version is inappropriate for use with bilingual children. Full standardization is…

In an attempt to restore the symmetry and balance between the study of person and item variation, this paper presents a novel methodology construct specification equations, which allows one to ascertain from the lawful behavior of items what an instrument is measuring. (Author/PN)

THE JOHNS HOPKINS PERCEPTUAL TEST (JHPT), REVIEWED IN THIS PAPER, WAS DESIGNED TO MEET THE NEED FOR A BRIEF, EASILY ADMINISTERED, NON-VERBAL INSTRUMENT TO ASSESS THE INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONING OF CHILDREN. THE DATA ON THIS INSTRUMENT INDICATES THAT IT IS RELATIVELY CULTURE FAIR AND USEFUL FOR TESTING CHILDREN WHOSE PHYSICAL HANDICAPS PRECLUDE THE…

Items missed on the PPVT were analyzed according to race and sex; results indicated that an alternative form of the test might use stimulus words other than those missed by a disproportinate number of subjects in this study. (MM)

Responds to Dunn's paper on Hispanic-Anglo differences in IQ scores. Comments on Dunn's translation of Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised into Castilian Spanish, and concludes this version is inappropriate for mainland Puerto Rican and Mexican-American children due to improper translation and validation methods. Contains 27 references.…

Findings from a multiphase project to develop a standard assessment battery for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are reported. In the first study, validity of a delayed-recall administration of the Benton Revised Visual Retention Test (Benton, 1974) was examined with 30 children individually given 3 administrations of the Benton…

IN ORDER TO DEVELOP AN INTELLIGENCE TEST FOR PRESCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN THAT WOULD OVERCOME SOME OF THE LIMITATIONS OF AVAILABLE TESTS, A PERCEPTUAL DISCRIMINATION TEST USING POLYGONAL FORMS HAS BEEN DESIGNED AND TESTED. THE CHILD POINTS TO ONE OF TWO, THREE, OR FIVE FORMS MATCHING A STIMULUS FORM. INITIAL TESTING WITH 44 CHILDREN RANGING IN AGE FROM…