A multidisciplinary team from community organizations serving the homeless and from universities collaborated in screening 150 homeless adolescents for psychosocial and physical risks. The population had a history of physical, sexual, and substance abuse as well as high rates of HIV and hepatitis B. Case management by advanced practice nurses was…

Proposes six guidelines for designing appropriate screening programs for children at school entrance: choosing appropriate goals, matching assessment choices to program goals, using psychometrically sound instruments, incorporating findings of research into screening programs, including input from parents and other caregivers, and mandating…

After reviewing the extant literature, this article describes a cost analysis of the transient evoked otoaoustic emissions (TEOAE)-based universal newborn hearing screening program. Reasons why the cost per baby ($7.42) is lower than in previous reports are explained and the benefits of having accurate cost analysis data are summarized. (Author/CR)

Decision theory is a useful method for assessing the effectiveness of the components of a course placement system. The effectiveness of placement tests or other variables in identifying underprepared students is described by the conditional probability of success in a standard course. Estimating the conditional probability of success is discussed.…

This article describes hearing screening procedures and discusses implications and limitations of passing screening tests, being referred for rescreening, and failing the test. Follow-up intervention and evaluation that may be needed for children with hearing loss are discussed, and practical advice for professionals involved with screening and…

Derived general formulas to determine the sample size requirements for hypothesis testing with desired power and interval estimation with desired precision. Illustrated the approach with the example of a screening test for adolescent attention deficit disorder. (SLD)

This article describes the Harris Infant Neuromotor Test (HINT) and reviews investigations into its reliability and validity, normative data, and the sensitivity and specificity of parental opinions of their infants' movement and motor development. It concludes that the HINT is a quick, noninvasive screening tool with potential for the early…

Developed a measure of severity of mental retardation in adults, the Level of Activity in Profound/severe Mental Retardation, scale using Rasch analysis as a guide to item selection. Results from using the scale to rate 146 adults with mental retardation support the use of the scale for classification of severe and profound retardation. (SLD)

Three studies with approximately 600 children were conducted to evaluate the validity and reliability of the three measures of the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales Developmental Profile. Findings support the use of the profile as a screening and evaluation tool for identifying children with developmental delays at 12 to 24 months of age.…

Explored rehabilitation clients' (N=75) perceptions of Microcomputer Evaluation and Screening Assessment (MESA). Results showed clients experienced greater enjoyment, but more difficulty, learning how to complete computer exercises than hardware exercises but viewed computer exercises instructions as easier to understand. Observed differences in…

Elementary teachers (N=209) completed questionnaires assessing attitudes toward preassessment procedures. Results indicated that teachers with over six years of teaching experience had significantly more negative attitudes toward preassessment than did teachers with under two years of experience. Teachers who had made referrals to preassessment…

The evaluation of a parent-completed screening system, the Infant Monitoring Questionnaires, found: 86 percent to 91 percent agreement between classifications of infants made using standardized tests and the questionnaires, low under-screening and over-screening rates (0 percent to 11 percent), high inter-observer and test-retest agreement, and…

The review of the Test of Written Language-2 (TOWL-2) raises concerns about alternate forms reliability, subtest reliability, content validity, and omissions. It concludes that the TOWL-2 is an expanded and greatly modified version of the original test but may not be appropriate for identifying a student's specific writing problems. (DB)

This investigation compared the Peabody Individual Achievement Test and the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test scores of 131 children in grades 1-8, in order to determine whether findings of lower Woodcock scores are equally robust for each level. Differences in validity coefficients decreased from earlier to later grades. (Author/PB)