Comparison of rapid automatized naming in 136 children and youth with primary language disorders and 2,450 typical children and youth found naming time (but not accuracy) differed significantly between groups, especially in the color-shape naming task. Findings indicate that the requirements for two-dimensional, continuous naming resulted in…

This article describes school-based assessment procedures related to attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, including teacher rating measures, direct observations in classrooms and on playgrounds, peer ratings and sociometric measures, and permanent product measures such as academic performance. Components of a comprehensive assessment and…

The article summarizes a series of articles concerning acquired cerebral trauma. Reviewed are technological advances, treatment, assessment, potential innovative therapies, long-term outcome, family impact of chronic brain injury, and prevention. (DB)

Four computer-animated tasks were created to analyze the underlying structure of emerging phonological awareness at 3.5 years of age and to explore factors that influence children's (n=91) performance. The children were able to master tasks demanding identification, blending, and continuation of phonological units. Analysis supported two major…

This study of 218 White and 132 Black students (mean age=10.3) referred for possible learning disability services found that Black subjects were more likely to exhibit a severe discrepancy between expected and actual achievement levels when using a regression procedure than when using a standard score comparison procedure. (Author/JDD)

These concluding comments on the series of articles introduced by Linda Siegel's paper (EC221505) summarize the bases for disputing the utility of intelligence tests. The learning disabilities field's resistance to abandoning use of Intelligence Quotient tests is also acknowledged, and improved assessment measures and further research are called…

To identify classroom behaviors that differentiate primary-level students with learning disabilities (LD) from their nondisabled peers, two scales of 83 items each were devised and piloted. Two subscales and 18 individual items were found to discriminate students later classified as LD and those referred but not subsequently classified as LD.…

Listening and reading comprehension tests were administered to 180 children in grades 3-8. A regression equation was derived and applied to listening comprehension scores of seven children with reading difficulties. The procedure was determined to be useful in predicting reading comprehension and attributing it to poor decoding, poor…

This article argues for the adoption of a 2-step procedure in diagnosing dyslexia: first, identify students with word list reading standard scores below 90, and then identify students with a reading score at least 10 points lower than expected from the full scale intelligence quotient. (JDD)

This study of 640 twins with reading disability and 436 controls (mean age 12) examined external validity of the distinction between specific reading retardation and reading backwardness, in 3 domains: genetic etiology, sex ratio and clinical correlates, and neuropsychological profiles. There was no evidence of differential genetic etiology of the…

Comparisons of Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised scores, for 24 children with learning disabilities demonstrating a low verbal, high performance intelligence quotient (IQ) discrepancy and 33 slow learning children having uniformly low verbal and performance IQs, revealed few cognitive differences beyond the Performance Scale…

This study examined the development of reading and phonological processing abilities of 209 first graders assessed at the beginning and end of the school year. The discriminant analysis, based on reading and intelligence data, correctly identified later group membership (students with and without reading disabilities and "garden variety" poor…

This study examined the utility of Wechsler's Deterioration Index, which compares short- and long-term memory capabilities. Three studies with a total of 120 children (ages 6-14) found that the index did not predict learning disability status but did distinguish children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder from nondisabled children.…