The mental health of Looked After Children is not routinely assessed either upon entering the care system or during their period in care. Many children only receive help when difficulties become entrenched and more intensive treatment is required. Often this occurs when placements are fragile or have broken down. The Department of Health, Social…

Whether children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) and their families are receiving recommended assessments and services is poorly known. This pilot study examined service receipt as reported by parents of young children with ASD (n = 64) from four specialty centers in Canada. While almost all children had a speech and language assessment…

Background: The prevalence of features of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children with intellectual disabilities (ID) in Irish schools is unknown. The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of features of ADHD in a special school, in order to ascertain the number of children who may need further assessment for ADHD.…

Background: The PAS-ADD Checklist is designed to screen for likely mental health problems in people with intellectual disabilities (ID). The specificity of recommended subscales derived from diagnostic criteria is unclear. This paper therefore investigates the factor structure of the PAS-ADD Checklist to determine the adequacy of empirically…

This session will describe the social validity, usability and intent to use of an interactive, state-of-the-art, professional development program based on the Response to Intervention (RtI) approach and its core components (e.g., problem-solving strategy; three tiers of intervention service delivery with universal, selected and intensive…

The "2013 State Preschool Yearbook" is the newest edition of our annual report profiling state-funded prekindergarten programs in the United States. This latest "Yearbook" presents data on state-funded prekindergarten during the 2012-2013 school year as well as documenting a decade of progress since the first…

Background: The Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ), formerly the Autism Screening Questionnaire (ASQ), is based on a well-validated parent interview, the Autism Diagnostic Interview (ADI). It has shown promise as a screening measure for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) in a research-referred older sample, though recent studies with younger…

The author reviews an article (L. C. Eaves & H. H. Ho, 2004) published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders that discussed screening tools and diagnostic assessments used to identify autism in 2-year-olds as well as a follow-up study 2 1/2 years later. The author also provides a discussion of the impact of receiving this diagnosis…

The purpose of the research presented here is to identify which factors school level practitioners consider in deciding whether to retain or promote a student and to ascertain their knowledge of and training in retention research. This research illuminates the process of determining which students are promoted and which are retained, and the…

Baltimore's school-based vision-screening program may be leaving thousands of children with uncorrected eyesight problems. Vision screening in public schools is essential for students to learn, especially when low-income children face a high rate of eyesight problems and have poor access to health care. Left undetected and uncorrected, vision…

The objective of this preliminary study was to determine the effectiveness of a female gender-specific substance abuse treatment intervention (Holistic Enrichment for At-Risk Teens, or HEART) in improving problems related to personal and social functioning. A quasi-experimental, 2-group pretest and posttest repeated measures design was used to…

Epidemiological studies indicate a worldwide increase in the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) over the past decade. ASDs are no longer considered rare conditions. Although the reason(s) for this rise are uncertain, research indicates that specialised intervention at an early age is vital for optimising the outcomes of children with…

The primary study objective was to develop a statewide system that made use of information about the pre-kindergarten program in combination with kindergarten reading and social outcome measures in order to inform parents about the ability of early childhood programs to prepare children for formal schooling. In order to carry out this objective,…

We developed alternate forms of a math test for use in both screening students at risk of failure and monitoring their progress over time. In this technical report, we present results of the screener, used in the fall of 2009. The 48-item test was aligned to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Curriculum Focal Point Standards…

The current state of health of the United States, including physical inactivity, dietary intake, and overall lifestyle habits is of concern for educators. Specifically, the health of the college population appears to be under-represented in health and wellness research. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a 15-week university wellness-based…