Evaluates the effects of rater reliability of common IQ and achievement tests on subsequent learning disorder eligibility determinations, particularly with respect to difficulty level of individual subtests and expertise of the scorer. The study corroborates previous findings of strong interrater reliability on most subtests of common IQ and…

The differentiation of childhood apraxia of speech from severe phonological disorder is a common clinical problem. This article reports on an attempt to describe speech errors in children with childhood apraxia of speech on the basis of gesture use and acoustic analyses of articulatory gestures. The focus was on the movement of articulators and…

Response to intervention (RTI) arose, in part, from the limited success of the pre-referral process, an approach advocated in the 1980s and 1990s, and accurately measuring the discrepancy between aptitude and achievement in young children. Reflecting these concerns, when the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was reauthorized in…

Unfortunately, racial disparities are well documented in the delivery of behavioral health services. This study examines the effects of implementing a decision support process, integrating clinical information into the administration of mental health services, on racial disparities in psychiatric hospital admissions for children in state custody.…

Down syndrome is the most common genetic cause of mental retardation and one of the most frequently occurring neurodevelopmental genetic disorders in children. Children with Down syndrome typically experience a constellation of symptomology that includes developmental motor and language delay, specific deficits in verbal memory, and broad…

Today, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common and most studied psychiatric disorder of childhood, affecting approximately five percent of school-aged children. That means that there are probably at least two children with ADHD in any average elementary school class. In the last 20 years, there has been an explosion in…

One of the most important strategies for stopping school decline is recognizing its signs early on and promptly applying appropriate interventions. In this article, the author identifies 11 indicators of school decline that are associated with inadequate and inappropriate responses to the challenges of budget cuts, state and federal mandates, loss…

This resource conveys policies, procedures, and guidelines that support the delivery of special education services in British Columbia's (Canada) public schools. It was originally published in 1995 (ED414703), following an extensive provincial Special Education Review (1993-94). The purpose of this manual is to provide a single point of reference…

This practice guide includes a description of the development and use of a universal checklist for identifying infants and toddlers that may be eligible for early intervention. The checklist was specifically developed to facilitate and streamline the identification of potentially eligible children without the need to administer screening or…

During the past several years, one of the most frequently addressed topics at conferences and in professional journals is responsiveness to intervention (RTI). This is because it is viewed by many as a new way to think about both early intervention and disability identification. Despite its relative newness, a subset of RTI proponents contend…

African American adolescent males are significantly more likely than their Caucasian peers to receive a diagnosis of Conduct Disorder. In contrast, their Caucasian peers are more often diagnosed with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder. Discrepancies in the way diagnosis is made cause more African American adolescent males to be classified …

Purpose: To demonstrate the internal reliability and discriminative validity of the Language Use Inventory for Young Children (LUI; D. K. O'Neill, 2002), a newly developed parent-report measure designed to assess pragmatic language development in 18-47-month-olds. Method: To examine internal reliability, the LUI was completed by mail by 177…

Grounded in state-of-the-art research, this book explores how English language learners develop both the oral language and literacy skills necessary for school success. Chapters examine the cognitive bases of English acquisition, and how the process is different for children from alphabetic (such as Spanish) and nonalphabetic (such as Chinese)…

Authentic assessment is a growing alternative to conventional testing. This research-to-practice article describes a framework for implementing authentic assessment. The R-E-A-L framework shows how roles, equipment, assessment tools, and location can be incorporated into early childhood practices.

Nurture groups are school-based interventions that offer specialist support for children and young people with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. Initially developed as an early years intervention in the 1970s, nurture groups dwindled in the 1980s but have enjoyed something of a renaissance over the last 15 years. There are now more…