This literature review examined the congruence between parental estimates and professionals' assessments of the abilities of children with disabilities. Results suggest that there are strong, positive correlations between parental and professional judgments, and that methodology relates to the degree of congruence between parental and professional…

This study reviewed 14 research articles in early intervention that included measures of parent satisfaction. The review found that all studies reported high levels of satisfaction, but analysis was hampered by the research methodologies used. Suggestions for improving methodology and directions for future research are offered. (Author/JDD)

This study first found that an adaptation of the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children exhibited construct validity and test-retest reliability in assessing preschool children's sensitivity to age-related differences in peers' developmental abilities. Second, children with disabilities were viewed as less…

This study developed an experimental analysis procedure based on the results of a descriptive assessment, involving five parents and their children with problem behaviors. The experimental analysis required only four sessions to demonstrate a function for each subject's problem behaviors. Interventions involving functional communication training…

This article compares three models that have been the foundation for approaches to the analysis of statistical significance in early childhood research--the Fisherian and the Neyman-Pearson models (both considered "classical" approaches), and the Bayesian model. The article concludes that all three models have a place in the analysis of research…

Focus group interviewing is presented as an interactive method of conducting qualitative research with potential applications in early intervention. A six-component process to guide focus group research involves formulate research questions, select participants, develop protocol, conduct focus groups, analyze data, and report the findings.…

This article describes four single-subject research designs comparing two or more interventions with young disabled children--the multitreatment design, alternating treatments design, adapted alternating treatments design, and parallel treatments design. Problems in using these designs include multitreatment interference, nonreversibility of some…

Syllabus Builder is a hypertext resource that brings together scholarly, critical, and pedagogical information for literature teachers to use in curriculum development and classroom instruction. Application of the program to enhance a specific American literature anthology is described, illustrated with computer screens. (MSE)

A pedagogical model of hypertext authoring is presented. The model encourages self-regulated, constructive thinking to create knowledge by manipulating corresponding screen representations. One application of the design-oriented model is described, with screen illustrations. (MSE)

A study investigated the relationship of 35 high school students' online catalog search performance and their academic achievement and verbal, quantitative, and analytical abilities as measured by standardized tests. Results indicate a moderate correlation between search performance and academic performance and cognitive abilities and a stronger…

Quality evaluation refers to computer operations for categorizing the relative quality of creative work. It can be used in college instruction to involve students and instructors in contrastive perception and distributed judgment of student work, assigning a quantitative measure to group conclusions about the relative quality of a member's work.…

Recent studies at four colleges and universities (West Virginia University; University of Cincinnati, Ohio; Johnson County Community College, Kansas; University of Texas, El Paso) indicate that comprehensive writing tools software can improve both student writing performance and pass rates for disadvantaged students. (Author/MSE)

A total of 475 kindergarten through fifth-grade students, 231 parents, and 34 teachers at a Texas elementary school were surveyed about their attitudes toward computers in the classroom in 1991 and again 1 year later. Attitudes toward computers among the student population were very positive, and levels of computer anxiety declined significantly…

Describes the design of a computer-based problem-solving tool for teaching abstraction and classification to elementary school students. The task involves reasoning with attribute blocks. The software keeps a detailed trace of the student's actions, allowing teachers to provide intelligent feedback to the student. Results of a pilot study of the…

Compared the effects of computer-based word processing and writing by hand on 14 third and fourth graders' attitudes and performance in the writing process. Found that third graders tended to make more revisions and edits when using a word processor, whereas fourth graders made more changes in their handwritten drafts. (MDM)