Examined stress factors affecting 4- to 18-year-old Central American refugee children living in Los Angeles. Factors included children's witnessing of war violence; children's separation from their caregiver; and abuse and family problems. Found that the incidence of posttraumatic stress disorder increased with a combination of stressors. (SM)

This case study of a toddler with autism whose parents had videotaped her development from birth showed that the child's behavior and development were essentially normal for the first year but that she then became withdrawn in only a few months. It is suggested that early communicative screening tests might have identified the child's earliest…

This article defines the concepts of medical technology and technology assessment and offers a five-level assessment scheme for the evaluation of medical technologies, including (1) biologic plausibility; (2) technical feasibility; (3) intermediate outcomes; (4) patient outcomes; and (5) societal outcomes. This scheme is applied to the use of…

This study assessed the hearing function of 35 middle-aged adults with Down's syndrome by means of otoscopy, impedance audiometry, brainstem evoked response audiometry, and pure tone audiometry. The study found brainstem evoked response audiometry useful for routine audiological assessment, as it identified hearing losses of 20 to 90 decibels in…

Presents results of a survey of screening and risk assessment policies in child protective services (CPS) in 100 counties in 8 states. Findings reveal mixed practices and a general lack of evaluation of developed systems. (NH)

A laboratory experiment designed to provide rapid, inexpensive student exposure to pharmacogenetics in drug elimination and patient therapy is described. The test, performed on students, determines expression of a drug metabolism enzyme following ingestion of a probe drug. (Author/MSE)

Collected data from 24 universities defining relationship of college grade point average (GPA) to class standing in their colleges. Findings suggest that GPA cutoff points be applied only after relationship of class standing to GPA is determined at each university and possibly at each college recruited. (NB)

The Walker/Severson Systematic Screening for Behavior Disorders measure was revised for use with preschool children. The revision consists of three hierarchical stages of increasingly time-consuming methodologies: (1) teacher rankings, (2) teacher ratings, and (3) direct behavioral observations. Testing with 121 children demonstrated significant…

Evaluation of the Child Dissociative Checklist found it to be a reliable and valid observer report measure of dissociation in children, including sexually abused girls and children with dissociative disorder and with multiple personality disorder. The checklist, which is appended, is intended as a clinical screening instrument and research measure…

Examined relationship between Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT), Stanford-Binet, two-subtests short form, and Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement (K-TEA) with population of 75 academically referred students. K-BIT correlated significantly with Stanford-Binet and K-TEA Math, Reading, and Spelling scores. Results support use of K-BIT as…

This study evaluated the use of the Dyslexia Screening Test (DST) in six primary schools in England with 44 children from 12 classes. Teachers perceived the DST to be useful and necessary. The great majority of teachers indicated that the test's findings were consistent with their expectations from pupils' classroom performance and that they…

Thirty-four (Study 1) and 37 (Study 2) pairs of three-year-old children with and without mild learning problems were presented with a battery of five or six simple cognitive tasks. Children without learning problems performed at a significantly higher level on 17 of the 18 measures. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

The first article, by Everett V. Smith, Jr., in this section discusses screening college students for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder using the Adult Behavior Checklist (B. Johnson and S. Lyonfields, 1995). The second article, by George Karabatsos, describes the Rasch analysis and graphical depiction of measures of criminals' attitudes.…

Examines the comparative validity of a parent-report scale and a self-report scale, both designed to assess behavioral and emotional problems. Results, based on 111 children in regular education classrooms, indicate that parent reports were more sensitive to overt behavioral problems, whereas self-reports were sensitive to mood disturbances and…

A review of the literature reporting effects on parents of universal neonatal hearing screening (UNHS) focuses on debates surrounding false positive identification, the evidence base for maternal/parental anxiety, consent, and family cultural/sociodemographic influences on the effective implementation of the UNHS programs, especially the pilot…