Assessing impairment is an explicit component of current psychiatric diagnostic systems. A brief parent and teacher rating scale for assessing impairment was developed and studied using attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as an exemplar disorder. The psychometric properties of the Impairment Rating Scale (IRS) were measured in 4…

Results are reported from 2 common measures of medical student attitudes toward older adults: Maxwell-Sullivan Attitude Survey (MSAS); and UCLA Geriatrics Attitude Survey (GAS), with students entering the University of South Carolina School of Medicine (USCSM) in the period 2000--2005. A reliability analysis incorporating item means, Cronbach's…

A field study with 178 candidates for a police promotional examination was conducted to investigate the effects of "untranslated" behavioral checklists on certain psychometric properties of an assessment center. The untranslated checklist used all behavioral responses elicited by the assessment center exercises, not just those that met a…

Research on the effectiveness of the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS) in enhancing the mother-newborn relationship has had inconsistent results. A study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of an NBAS intervention with a high-risk mother group. The study focused on low-income, drug-using mothers, measuring the effectiveness of the…

This study describes the ongoing use of a valid and reliable instrument to measure longitudinally teacher candidates' attitudes and beliefs. The instrument, "Attitudes and Beliefs about the Nature of and the Teaching of Mathematics and Science," was developed for the Maryland Collaborative for Teacher Preparation (MCTP). The MCTP is a National…

One approach to increasing our understanding of the rating process is to examine behavioral components of decision-making. Although observable rater behavior during appraisal is still removed from the actual contents of internal processing, these behavioral indices may provide important clues toward identifying determinants of rating success. To…

This paper describes the early childhood special educator's use of the Five P's (Parent/Professional Preschool Performance Profile), a new assessment tool by Judith Bloch, developed by the Variety Preschooler's Workshop (Syosset, New York) for use with children with emotional and developmental disorders functioning on a preschool level. The Five…

The relationship between visual-motor perception and classroom behavior was investigated for a sample of 76 first-grade children. Analysis of regression indicated that three types of classroom behavior tend to be associated with poor visual-motor perception. These behaviors are described. (Author)

Phase I of this study sought to identify the specific social skills that 21 teachers of students with serious emotional disturbances (SED) and nine regular education teachers deemed as essential for successful classroom functioning. Subjects were asked to list such behaviors in four categories: environmental behaviors, interpersonal behaviors,…

This research compares the Snyder (1974) and Lennox and Wolfe (1982) self-monitoring scales. The data indicate that the Snyder scale is multidimensional. The factors of the Snyder scale correlate dissimilarly with important characteristics of self-monitors. Only the other-directedness factor is significantly related to behavioral cross situational…

The effect of rating scale format (behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS) and Likert) and rater training on leniency and halo in student ratings of instruction was investigated. The subjects (N=269) were students enrolled in required courses at a graduate theological seminary in the southwestern United States. A repeated measures design…

The need for educating teachers to identify depression in children is established, and an inservice training course to develop awareness of student characteristics is outlined. A review of the literature points out that many withdrawn and fearful children are often overlooked in the classroom. Characteristics of withdrawal, depression, and other…

A study was conducted to determine if differences exist between the leadership behaviors of men and women in special education administrative positions in Florida. Participants consisted of 28 exceptional student education directors--14 male and 14 female--along with all 28 of their respective superintendents and two staff members, one male and…

This study examined the relative effectiveness of different media in presenting modeling stimuli to adult trainees in a supervisory skills training program and assessed their satisfaction with the training and their performance. Eighty undergraduate students were randomly assigned to one of four conditions--audio only, text only, audio plus text,…

Rating scales are increasingly popular in research and clinical studies of children. The Stress Response Scale was developed to test whether a child's behavior rating scale could be constructed based on a theoretical model of personality and if it could be validated by empirical means in order to obtain clinically useful factor scores. The scale…