Peer support arrangements are an evidence-based practice for increasing interactions between students with severe disabilities and their peers in general education classrooms, but it is unclear how interactions vary across instructional formats or generalize outside the classroom. In this single-case design study, we tested the efficacy of peer…

Children's social and emotional competence abilities have been linked to successful social interactions and academic performance. This study examined the teacher and observer ratings of social and emotional competence for 89 young (3- to 5-year-old), African American children from economically stressed urban environments. There was a specific…

The purpose of this study was to determine the degree to which inter-rater agreement in classroom observation of teachers is affected by using a system where each scale point is defined by a descriptor particularly created for the quality being rated. Thirty-three subjects enrolled in two Teacher Performance Assessment Instruments training…

This study aims to determine whether trait categories are generally perceived as more applicable to others than to self. Subjects described themselves and two acquaintances on trait checklists, indicating not only placement on trait continuum but also perceived consistency of trait-related behavior. Positive, negative, and neutral traits were…

A systematic procedure for obtaining objective data of nonverbal teaching behaviors focusing on specific behaviors is presented. Teacher behaviors, recorded on video-tape, are studied and evaluated for the following nonverbal behaviors: (1) use of proximity control in maintaining discipline; (2) emphasis on the need for eye contact as a speaker;…

Marital satisfaction, involving 150 couples selected at-large and 40 couples in therapy, was investigated in two studies. An initial focus was the development of a 280-item Marital Satisfaction Inventory (MSI) including one validity scale, one global affective scale, and nine additional scales focusing on specific areas of marital interaction.…

The present study explored the effect of verbal dissembling on nonverbal behavior. Subjects were 146 females who were led to be either truthful or deceptive verbally to a confederate. The underlying affective state of the subjects and the publicness of the interaction between subject and confederate were also varied experimentally. The nonverbal…

Tools for assessing the quality of parent-child interactions in programs for handicapped infants and toddlers include: (1) behavioral observation systems (molar rating, molecular coding); (2) interaction assessment systems (molar rating scales, molecular coding systems, checklists). Considerations in selection should include content validity,…

Independent ratings of videotaped sessions in which mothers (N=60) interacted with their mentally retarded children (ages 1-3) suggested that potentially important components of maternal behavior (child orientedness/pleasure and control) may be assessed with the seven-item short form of the Maternal Behavior Rating Scale. (JW)

This article addresses the adequacy of instruments for assessing family functioning and the process for introducing family assessment into early intervention services. Use of the Parent/Caregiver Involvement Scale illustrates how observation can be used to assess dyadic family interactions and can be interpreted to tailor intervention to…

Relationships among social cognition, social interaction, and general cognition were studied in 109 three-year-old children. Social cognition was assessed by seven frequently used tests; general cognition was gauged by the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities. Social interaction was observed while each child played with a friend in a laboratory…

The Psychological Maltreatment Rating Scales (PMRS) were developed for assessing psychological maltreatment in the mother-child interaction, and were used to rate the videotaped interaction of 49 high-risk mother-child dyads and predict child protective service involvements. The PMRS was found to be a moderately reliable and valid measure.…

An interview between a college counselor and client, comprising 54 dyads, was used to demonstrate a classification system for counselor retrospections. The interview and subsequent counselor retrospections and client reactions were recorded, transcribed, and coded. After intercoder agreement was established, contingency analyses were computed. In…

There are two purposes for this study: first, to examine the relationship between college students' achievement and their ratings of instructors; second, to validate the two selected evaluation instruments that were designed specially for assessing teaching performance at the higher education level. Two evaluation inventories were selected for…

The Greenspan-Lieberman Observational System Revised was used to evaluate characteristics of dyadic interactions between 10 hearing mothers and hearing toddlers (HH), 10 deaf mothers and deaf toddlers (DD), and 10 hearing mothers and deaf toddlers (HD). Findings suggest that assessment instruments require some modifications and results must be…