Health disparities in ASD detection affect children's access to subsequent interventions. We examined potential disparities in implementation of a multi-stage ASD screening and diagnostic evaluation protocol in Part C Early Intervention with 4943 children ages 14-36 months (mean 22.0 months; 62.9% boys, 73.3% children of color, 34.9%…

The present study examined clinical utility of teacher ratings on the Colorado Learning Difficulties Questionnaire (CLDQ) learning difficulties screening within a referred, school-aged sample (N=519, 5-18 years). Of this sample, 419 youth had CLDQ reading scale scores from a reading or general education teacher, and 338 had CLDQ math scale ratings…

Canonical babbling is a critical milestone for speech development and is usually well in place by 10 months. The possibility that infants with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show late onset of canonical babbling has so far eluded evaluation. Rate of vocalization or "volubility" has also been suggested as possibly aberrant in infants with…

No previous empirical study has investigated whether the learning disabilities (LD) identification decisions of proposed methods to operationalize processing strengths and weaknesses approaches for LD identification are associated with differential treatment response. We investigated whether the identification decisions of the…

The longitudinal prediction of reading problems from fourth grade to sixth grade was investigated with a sample of 173 students. Reading problems at the end of sixth grade were defined by significantly below average performance (= 15th percentile) on reading factors defining word reading, fluency, and reading comprehension. Sixth grade poor reader…

Universal developmental screening during pediatric well child care detects early delays in development and is a critical gateway to early intervention for young children at risk for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Developmental screening practices are highly variable, and few studies have examined screening utilization for children at risk for…

The number of young children with autism is ever-increasing, and school psychologists are more frequently required to identify these students. Valid screening tools are needed in order to focus school psychologists' time on those students in need of intensive evaluations in Early Intervention programs. The purpose of this study was to examine the…

Background: There is growing application of school-based screening to identify post-traumatic distress in students following exposure to trauma. The consensus method is based on self-report questionnaires that assess posttraumatic symptoms, functional impairment, depression or anxiety. Objective: The current research explored the possibility of…

Increasing attention has been devoted to the maturation of sensory processing in the first year of life. While the development of cortical visual function has been thoroughly studied, much less information is available on auditory processing and its early disorders. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the assessment techniques for…

Developmental screening programs identify young children with delayed skill growth or challenging behaviors and refer them to community agencies for evaluation or other services. This research studied the predictive impact of developmental screening results and child and family characteristics on the completion of these referrals for evaluation. A…

In a sample of 195 first graders selected for poor reading performance, the authors explored four cognitive predictors of later reading comprehension and reading disability (RD) status. In fall of first grade, the authors measured the children's phonological processing, rapid automatized naming (RAN), oral language comprehension, and nonverbal…

Models of Response to Intervention (RTI) include parameters of assessment and instruction. This study focuses on assessment with the purpose of developing a screening battery that validly and efficiently identifies first-grade children at risk for reading problems. In an RTI model, these children would be candidates for early intervention. We…

The purpose of this study was to identify and evaluate a universal screening battery for reading that is appropriate for older elementary students in a response to intervention model. Multiple measures of reading and reading correlates were administered to 230 fourth-grade children. Teachers rated children's reading skills, academic competence,…

Using a multiple-gating procedure, 5 research sites (3 elementary and 2 middle schools) were identified as implementing a Response to Intervention (RTI) framework. This study uses a multiple case study design to describe the RTI implementation in reading at these 5 sites. Findings suggest that the sites studied are utilizing a hybrid model (a…

Experimental phonological synthesis (sound blending) and analysis (rhyme detection) tasks were administered to children (n=76) preceding kindergarten entry. Measures of beginning reading were administered after kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. The sound blending task was significantly related to most interim and outcome measures. The…