This study describes the rationale, design, development, and technical properties of SELweb MS, a direct assessment of social and emotional competencies in middle school students. Assessment and item design were iteratively developed with input from youth and experts to measure five domains: Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness,…

The present study examined the relationships between the standardized applied behavior analysis (ABA) direct assessment, the PEAK Comprehensive Assessment (PCA), and established assessments commonly used in educational and clinical settings, including the Childhood Autism Rating Scale - Third Edition (CARS-3), the PDD Behavior Inventory (PDDBI),…

This study presents construct validity for a novel automated morphometric and kinematic handwriting assessment, including (1) convergent validity, establishing reliability of automated measures with traditional manual-derived Minnesota Handwriting Assessment (MHA), and (2) discriminant validity, establishing that the automated methods distinguish…

The Social Attribution Task, Multiple Choice is introduced as a measure of implicit social cognitive ability in children, addressing a key challenge in quantification of social cognitive function in autism spectrum disorder, whereby individuals can often be successful in explicit social scenarios, despite marked social adaptive deficits. The…

Youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often present with emotional problems such as anxiety and depression (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). A recent study of the "Child Behavior Checklist 6-18" (CBCL; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001) indicated good sensitivity but relatively low specificity for identifying emotional problems…

Following the ongoing increase in nonmarital fertility, policy makers have looked for ways to limit the disadvantages faced by children of unmarried mothers. Recent initiatives included marriage promotion and welfare-to-work programs. Yet policy might also consider the promotion of three generational households. We know little about whether…

Two analyses of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) protocols of 100 children (6 to 16 years old) referred for behavioral problems in school were conducted to study the utility of a variety of WISC short forms and the factor structure of the WISC-R. (Author)

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children data were obtained from 18 violent juvenile offenders. The similarities ratio was computed and compared with the score from a random subsample of 18 juveniles from a larger population of 200 offenders. There was a significantly lower similarities ratio for the violent group. (Author)

We are delighted to welcome you to the International Psychological Applications Conference and Trends 2014, taking place in Porto, Portugal, from 4 to 6 of April. Psychology, in our time, offers a large range of scientific fields where it can be applied. The goal of understanding individuals and groups (mental functions and behavioral…

The diagnostic significance of central placement of the first Bender-Gestalt design was examined by comparing protocols of clinic-referred and nonreferred children matched for age and IQ. As predicted, central placement occurred with greater frequency in the clinic group, but its clinical utility is unclear. (Author/RD)

Studied the relationship between Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (Revised) scores obtained through three testing conditions (praise, neutral feedback, and token reinforcement) and previous records of academic achievement for conduct-disordered adolescent girls (N=51). Results showed that regardless of testing conditions, the subtests were…