Presents a nonbureaucratic model of mental health service delivery: the Family Life Center in Columbia, Maryland. Describes services through three programs: a counseling service, community services, and an information and referral service. Professional volunteers work with clients referred by counseling coordinators. Discusses implications for…

Describes the rationale, organization, and activities of a comprehensive system for professional development in New York state, the Clearinghouse of Resources for Educators of Adults. (SK)

Summarizes some recent writings on ways that schools can aid in the treatment and prevention of child abuse, particularly the role of the teacher in identifying abused or neglected children. (SJL)

Describes referral lists created by the Education, Job and Computer Center at the Brooklyn Public Library to help patrons with employment, job training, or educational opportunities. Highlights include the creation process, distribution, use, and an appendix that includes referral list procedures. (Author/LRW)

This article addresses the use of behavioral interviews in school consultation programs to identify problems that may require student referral to special education. It examines elements that make up the interview, presents ways to bolster the technical adequacy of the behavioral interview, and calls for interview skills training. (JDD)

Issues in current methods of identifying gifted students include the referral process (e.g., problems with establishing a referral rate) and selection standards (problems of criteria, educational setting, level, bias, instruments, and decisions). An ongoing continuing screening process and education of decision makers about sound measurement…

Discusses the applications of computer technology to community information and referral (I&R) services, basic planning considerations for automating an I&R service, and the development of an automated I&R system. Examples of computer supported I&R services in operation are given and the Tulsa City-County Library System's approach…

Teachers of gifted children read a descriptive vignette of a hypothetical gifted student and rated their willingness to refer the student for gifted program placement. Results showed that the 197 teachers were influenced by the presence of the educational label "learning disabled" and by the social class of the student. (Author/JDD)

Surveyed national sample of 151 school psychologists. Results revealed discrepancies between preparation and job responsibilities. Respondents indicated that they had received limited training in reading, that 77 percent of referrals involved reading problems, that they made reading recommendations but felt they lacked expertise, and that they…

One school district's effort to develop a specialized reading program for students with dyslexia is described. Discussed are: guidelines for diagnosing dyslexics; primary characteristics of 12 youngsters identified as dyslexic; and recommendations for other school districts concerning definitions, screening, referral, and service delivery. (JDD)

The article stresses such concepts of prereferral intervention for at-risk students as intervention assistance and alternative intervention. Such approaches are founded on collaborative consultation between special and general educators. (Author/DB)

Diagnostic procedures commonly employed by school psychologists have been shown to be not only of limited validity for diagnostic purposes, but also of questionable relevance to intervention. Educational resources should be devoted to refining teacher-based systems of referral and diagnosis. Appropriate roles for the school psychologist are…

Analysis of data on 1,404 young children with hearing losses indicated that 80% of the children were identified via informal hearing-screening procedures, such as parental suspicion and referral. Auditory brainstem response technology provided the lowest mean identification age. The study concludes that formal screening programs are not locating…

This study describes the pattern of self-referrals for learning disability services in California's 103 community colleges; eligibility decisions; and students served according to age, ethnic, and gender groupings. Older students, Asians, and Filipinos were referred in lower numbers than their proportion in the general student population, while…

Students with monocular vision may be in need of special assistance and should be evaluated by a multidisciplinary team to determine whether the visual loss is affecting educational performance. This article discusses the student's eligibility for special services, difficulty in performing depth perception tasks, difficulties in specific classroom…