Sixty-eight parents of children with alleged child sexual abuse (CSA) were surveyed 4 months after visiting an interdisciplinary CSA evaluation clinic in order to examine the extent to which recommendations were recalled and implemented. Results reveal that 9% of parents recalled recommendations for medical follow-up, 79% recalled recommendations…

A survey was conducted to catalog the assessments used by 125 practitioners to evaluate the problem behaviors displayed by clients with mental retardation. Results indicate most practitioners rated functional assessment procedures as extremely or very useful. Findings are discussed with emphasis on the difficulties in conducting functional…

Recent decades have seen major changes in measurements of cognitive ability and interpretation of results. Theory describing the factorial structure of cognitive ability has blossomed. Advances in psychometric and statistical tools available to test developers have facilitated application of better theory to new assessment instruments.(SM)

Provides a brief overview of functional behavior assessment and contrasts functional behavior assessment and traditional psychological assessment. Messick's (1995) theory of construct validity is presented and then applied to the evaluation of the validity of functional behavior assessment measures. Finally, implications and guidelines of current…

Investigates the factoral validity of the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory (MACI) in a sample of 250 adolescent offenders. Results revealed a two-factor structure for the seven clinical scales. Findings suggest that the MACI may provide important information that psychologists find useful in the formulation of treatment plans as well as…

This study diagnosed 39 autistic adolescents using both the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) and the revised version (DSM-III-R) criteria. New DSM-III-R criteria include both verbal and nonverbal impairments, stressing communication and its social use. DSM-III criteria identified 25 children as autistic, while DSM-III-R…

Reviews and critiques relevance of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition-Revised (DSM-III-R) for school psychological practice. Presents five misguided assumptions upon which DSM-III-R use is based, dealing with medical model conceptualization of behavior; reliability; validity; relevance for special education…

Responds to critiques by Reynolds and by Hynd of previous article (Gresham and Gansle, this issue) which reviewed relevance of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition-Revised (DSM-III-R), and noted irrelevance of DSM-III-R for school psychology practice. Addresses misconceptions/misconstruals of objective facts in…

Surveyed 172 social workers to determine prevalence of history of childhood abuse and extent to which background and personal characteristics affect clinical judgments about sexual abuse. Twenty-one percent of women and 22% of men reported sexual abuse history. Major factors that predicted credibility ratings of sexual abuse vignettes included…

Presents a systematic touch exploration format for screening child abuse. The technique involves simple drawings with child participation that review forms of touching in a child's life and screens for physical and emotional abuse as well. Comparisons between screening outcomes and completed case conclusions indicate a bias toward underreporting…

Examined possible existence of structural and content elements in Diagnostic Drawing Series (DDS) significant to eating-disordered population. Findings from 81 women with eating-disorders revealed that profile of eating disordered subjects did not vary from control group profile except for groundline and falling apart trees. (Author/NB)

Summarizes the results of an international conference held in Sweden. The group's mandate was to evaluate existing knowledge regarding the ways in which child sexual abuse allegations could be investigated most productively. This document represents a statement summarizing areas of agreement regarding the current status of knowledge in this area.…

This article discusses legal issues relating to expert testimony in child sexual abuse litigation, including when expert testimony is permitted, qualifications of expert witnesses, permissible bases supporting expert testimony, expert testimony on ultimate factual and legal issues, the reasonable certainty standard of expert testimony, and…

Thirty publications were examined to locate literature on acculturation and mental health among Hispanics immigrants. Points of convergence, problems, limitations, and new directions for research are discussed. Research is needed to discover how acculturation shapes the experience and expression of psychological distress. (CJS)

Focuses on one judgmental issue in cognitive psychology that depicts mixed results--subjects' use of and failure to use base rates in category predictions. Examines conditions that induce or prevent subjects from using base rates, and uses these conditions to analyze study of special education decision making. Evaluates potential of base rate…