This review examines published hearing/review and court decisions concerning autism eligibility in educational settings in relation to empirically supported best practices in the assessment of autism. Thirteen cases were identified for inclusion in the review. In general, results indicated that hearing/review officers and judges neither relied…

This paper examines the case for modality specificity as a criterion for improving the specificity of diagnosing central auditory processing disorders. Demonstrating the modality-specific nature of sensory processing deficits is seen as one way to rule out nonperceptual factors as explanations for observed dysfunction. (Author)

This reprint of an 1866 essay by the physician who identified Down's syndrome describes the physical and behavioral patterns that characterize individuals with mental retardation who come from different ethnic groups. This evidence of degeneration crossing racial divisions is seen as support for the idea that the human family has a common origin.…

Examines the within-group differences that exist among children with some degree of hearing loss. Argues that considering these differences will assist service providers in improving services. Provides a rationale for viewing service options for these children and their families as parts of a whole. Discusses the implications of this perspective…

This article makes the case that it no longer makes sense to delay the process of identifying children with disabilities until after kindergarten. The purposes, expectations, and day-to-day realities of kindergarten have changed, and children who eventually will be identified for special education are put at a considerable disadvantage when their…

Background: Mild mental retardation is an enduring and impairing condition. Its prevalence has varied widely across different studies from 0.5 to over 8%, with higher rates in completely ascertained samples. The current study estimates the prevalence of low IQ in the mental retardation range (intellectual disability) in a population sample and…

The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) assumes a biopsychosocial basis for disability and provides a framework for understanding how environmental factors contribute to the experience of disability. To determine the utility of prevalent disability assessment instruments, the authors examined the extent to…

Pediatricians' and teachers' knowledge of physical, cognitive, and behavioral features associated with three genetic syndromes were assessed and the effectiveness of information sources about these syndromes evaluated. The surveyed sample included 53 pediatricians and 69 teachers from Northern and Central California. Respondents demonstrated…

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…

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…

Autism awareness is spreading like wildfire. Diagnoses have increased at an astounding rate. The statistic most often quoted is that 1 child in 150 has autism. As if the high rate of autism diagnoses were not worrisome enough, many doctors are not properly trained, or kept up to date, on how to detect autism at the earliest possible age. In many…

Children with emotional and behavioural disorders (EBD) vary in many respects. In school, specific conditions have to be fulfilled in order to deal adequately with EBD. This study addresses the question how mainstream primary schools design different instructional situations to support pupils with EBD in practice, and how this design could be…