Developmental screening of young children is important in all populations, especially underserved communities with known health care disparities. The American Academy of Pediatrics created guidelines and a toolkit for pediatricians to conduct developmental surveillance and screening, yet these guidelines are not uniformly implemented within…

In this article I advocate for a new discussion in the field of international large-scale assessments; one that calls for a reexamination of international large-scale assessments (ILSAs) and their use. Expanding on the high-quality work in this special issue I focus on three inherent limitations to international large-scale assessments noted by…

Social competence intervention studies published from 1970 to 2008 for preschoolers were reviewed for reports of social validity assessment. Analysis of 90 studies indicated that nearly 27% (n = 24) of studies reported at least one measure of social validity assessment for the goals (n = 7), procedures (n = 8), or effects (n = 19). The methods…

Program and /or course evaluation is a process in which different types of data are collected systematically in order to study the virtues and weaknesses of a language instruction program. Program evaluation is, in fact, one of the essential aspects of any curriculum. It is a kind of quality control in which various aspects of an instructional…

Prevalence rates of behavioral problems in children with motor disabilities are commonly based on questionnaires developed for a general population (e.g., Child Behavior CheckList). These questionnaires do not take into account lower levels of intellectual functioning. The first aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of parent-reported…

The main purpose of this descriptive research is to examine and document the development of a curriculum-based learning portfolio model for children in a preschool for three-six-year-olds in Taiwan. Data collection methods adopted include classroom observation, in-depth interviews, questionnaires and documentation. Participants include a preschool…

Caretakers of adolescents and young adults with Down syndrome (DS) may report the onset of a depressive illness in previously mentally well individuals. However, the behavioral phenomenology of these conditions has not been well characterized. We ascertained a cohort of DS patient-subjects presenting to a specialty clinic with medical and/or…

We assessed the reliability and validity of the discrete-trials teaching evaluation form (DTTEF), a 21-item checklist for assessing instructors conducting discrete-trials teaching (DTT). In Phase 1, six consultants in an applied behavior analysis program for children with autism rated the 21 components of the DTTEF with a mean of 6.2 on a 7-point…

This study assessed 43 gifted adolescent females in the United States and Germany over a 4-year period (in 7th or 8th grade and again during the 11th or 12th grade). Factors that were examined included the daughter's career selection, the prestige level and the education required to pursue that career, and the impact of the mother's gender role…

This study examines the nature of the relationship between psychosocial factors and insomnia complaints in an adolescent non-clinical population. It is a cross-sectional study of a stratified sample of 2,195 Greek adolescent high-school students. Subjects were given the Athens insomnia scale, the Symptom Checklist scale (SCL-90-R) and a…

Several instruments have been developed to screen for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in high-risk populations. However, few studies compare different instruments in one sample. Data were gathered from the "Early Screening of Autistic Traits Questionnaire," "Social Communication Questionnaire," "Communication and Symbolic…

The objectives of this study were to describe psychosocial adjustment and outcome over time for severely brain-injured patients and to find suitable outcome measures for clinical practice during the rehabilitation process and for individual rehabilitation planning after discharge from hospital. The methods include a descriptive, prospective,…

This study sought to determine if differences existed in the supervision of school counselors in traditional school counseling programs versus Recognized ASCA Model Programs (RAMP). The findings indicated that there are significant differences between traditional counseling supervisors and RAMP counseling supervisors across all supervisory…

Recently, several instruments have been developed to measure the subjective component of the quality of life (QOL) of people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD). A next step, however, must be the further validation of these instruments. The present study aimed at evaluating the psychometric properties of one of these…

Objective: Compare a questionnaire based on the HEADSS approach (QBH-16) and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) in the screening of mental disorder in adolescents with behavioral problems. Methods: Adolescents from both genders 12-17 years-old presenting behavioral problems without a previous diagnosis of mental disorder were referred from…