The term "intervention validity" refers to the extent to which assessment results can be used to guide the selection of interventions and evaluation of outcomes. In this article, the authors review the defining attributes of rating scales that distinguish them from other assessment tools, assumptions regarding the use of rating scales to…

To clarify the role of the cerebral cortex in neonatal behavior, the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale--Kansas Revision was administered to a hydranencephalic infant. Extremely deviant responses on portions of the exam were found, including responses to items measuring response decrement and orientation. (Author/RH)

The Behavior Flexibility Rating Scale (BFRS) is designed to assess insistence on sameness or lack of behavioral flexibility, which is often associated with autism and other developmental disabilities. This study was designed to assess the factor structure of this scale for a sample of 968 individuals with autism, Asperger's syndrome, and Down…

This paper reports on seven calibrated scales of student engagement emerging from a large-scale study of first year undergraduate students in Australian universities. The analysis presents insights into contemporary undergraduate student engagement, including online, self-managed, peer and student-staff engagement. The results point to the…

Behavior ratings and self-report measures of child and adolescent psychopathology are often used to explore the types and extent of psychological disorders in youth. Yet a review of the literature suggests that parent, teacher, and self-report of psychopathology are not generally highly correlated. Moreover, even among the same type of rater…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) renewed the commitment to provide positive behavioral support (PBS) for students that engage in persistent problem behavior. Behavior intervention plans (also known as PBS plans) serve as legal documents that help guide the implementation of intervention strategies to encourage…

Observer reliability and number of behaviors rated were compared following two types of observer training: (1) training of observers by one individual, and (2) self-training, or each pair of observers training itself. Results suggest that more adequate standards for the training of observers and the reporting of observer reliability be adopted by…

This study assessed the validity of striking a Bobo clown as a measure of aggression by correlating the rate of this behavior with peer ratings, teacher ratings, and self-ratings of aggressiveness in a preschool. (Author/JMB)

Objective: Behavioral parent training has been proven effective through years of research with a variety of groups. However, little research has been conducted to systematically evaluate the extent to which behavioral parent training may improve parenting skills of foster and other caregivers of dependent children. The Behavior Analysis Services…

Assessment of adaptive behavior traditionally has been associated with the identification of individuals with mental retardation. Information on adaptive behavior increasingly is being used for comprehensive assessment, treatment planning, intervention, and program evaluation for individuals with various disorders. Data from the normative samples…

This study evaluated the effects of a parent training program on the interactive skills of parents of children with autism in the People's Republic of China. Twenty-seven families of children with autism in a northeastern city of China were randomly assigned to either the training or the control group. Parents received a total of 20 h of training…

Since the early 1990s, attention has been focused on the importance of self-determination in the education of students with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to further our understanding of the construct of self-determination by examining the relationship between the "Arc's Self-Determination Scale" and the "American…

Objective: To evaluate the epidemiology of attention problems using parent, teacher, and youth informants among a nationally representative Turkish sample. Method: The children and adolescents, 4 to 18 years old, were selected from a random household survey. Attention problems derived from the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) (N = 4,488), Teacher…

Three methods of differentiating paranoid from nonparanoid schizophrenics were compared using 97 males from a Veterans Administration hospital. Official hospital diagnosis and behavior ratings were found to be significantly correlated, while self-report correlated with neither of the other two techniques. Implications for research are briefly…