These guidelines are intended to assist North Dakota educators in locating, identifying, and evaluating children and youth with special educational needs. They provide detailed information regarding required practices and recommended procedures in the areas of public awareness, child find, screening, referral, and the complete evaluation process.…

Used nonintellectual measures with demonstrated validity for screening of learning disabled and emotionally handicapped pupils to evaluate the feasibility of screening for potential educable mentally retarded (EMR) and gifted candidates. Results showed the screened group contained 91 percent of the low IQ group and 86 percent of the high IQ group.…

Problems in the identification and delivery of appropriate education to handicapped migrant students include lack of identification and lack of continuity of appropriate education. Potential corrective policy options in four areas (identification and records, programing, funding, and administration) are presented which could guarantee educational…

A medical assessment based on detailed historical data, a complete physical examination, developmental and neurological assessments, laboratory tests, and discussion with parents is the foundation for planning an effective educational program for the handicapped child. (CJ)

Discusses identification and evaluation guidelines under the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. To satisfy federal mandates concerning the placement of handicapped children, public school systems are required to utilize a least restrictive environment, whereby complete segregation of handicapped from nonhandicapped children is prohibited.…

Focus is on a conceptualization of initial assessment and consultation, the problem-solving paradigm as a framework for guiding this activity, and a description of procedures and initial data from a demonstration program. (Author/DLS)

A study investigated ways that each of the 50 states serve preschool children (ages 3-5) with specific learning disabilities (SLD), the impact of the preschool-specific/noncategorical label, and the quantitative criteria used for eligibility. Although all states reported that preschoolers with SLD could receive services, different eligibility…

Discusses the revised definition of mental retardation in a 1992 manual by the American Association on Mental Retardation. The key principles that provided the foundation for the development of the new definition are described, including the paradigm shift from facility-based to services-based to supports-based models. (CR)

Argues that an educational definition of mental retardation has to be sensitive to the motivational self-system and the self-regulatory processes that underpin performance of students with mental retardation. The theory of motivational orientation that explains the differences in students with intrinsic motivation or extrinsic motivation is…

Describes an instrument for identifying students with learning disabilities that was tested on more than a thousand Israeli students (grades 4-10) with and without reading and writing disabilities. The instrument was found to be valid in locating student disabilities in reading, writing, and visual recall. (CR)

Children with Attention Deficit Disorder have trouble holding or sustaining attention. This article provides teachers with a general review of the disorder, including ADD and learning difficulties, self-esteem, and behavior problems; symptoms and diagnosis; and helping children with ADD, including medication, routine and regularity, careful…

This article describes a comprehensive approach to identifying children needing evaluation for exceptional education needs while providing support to parents. Professionals from education, public health, social services, and child care collaborate to provide parents with information, observe children in play, and respond to parents' concerns.…

The SCAN: A Screening Test for Auditory Processing Disorders was administered to 14 elementary children with a history of otitis media and 14 typical children, to evaluate the validity of the test in identifying children with central auditory processing disorder. Another experiment found that test results differed based on the testing environment…

A study of 20 preschool children with specific language impairments and 20 typical preschool children examined the extent to which norm-referenced tests can identify a language impairment and determine specific areas of deficit. Results indicate the norm-referenced tests gave high discriminate capacity but inconsistent item-level performance.…

A dual-task paradigm involving concurrent finger tapping and line orientation judgment was used to investigate brain processing differences in 12 early adolescent good readers/poor spellers, poor readers/poor spellers, and controls. In the right-hand tapping condition, the good spelling group displayed significantly less tapping disruption than…