Examines whether the criterion-related validity of the Devereux Behavior Rating Scales--School Form (DSF) can be generalized to racial/ethnic subpopulations. Results based on 267 children support the DSF's utility in screening for serious emotional disturbance. Findings suggest its criterion related validity are generalizable to Caucasian, African…

Tests of the validity of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Third Edition Arithmetic, Coding, Information, and Digit Span (ACID) profile among 612 students with learning disabilities revealed that the ACID profile does not efficiently separate children with disabilities from those without disabilities. No ACID cutting score significantly…

Compares the visual and auditory processing factors of the Woodcock Johnson Tests of Cognitive Ability, Revised (WJR COG) and the visual and auditory memory factors of the Learning Efficiency Test, II (LET-II) among 120 college students. Results indicate two significant performance differences between the WJR COG and LET-II. (RJM)

Investigates professionals' ratings of treatment acceptability for two interventions. Teachers, school psychologists, and school social workers (N=97) viewed a vignette of a student exhibiting disruptive behavior and then rated the intervention's acceptability. Results show that professional group membership produced a significant interaction…

Claims that school psychologists will increasingly be called upon to help select electronic augmentative and alternative communication devices in developing individual education plans for special needs children. Reviews assessment factors which must be considered and provides a self-checklist to help school psychologists develop and conduct…

Investigates the impact of a six-month parent involvement program on Puerto Rican parents' understanding of their children's development and learning. Results indicate that the program, which taught parents strategies and skills in helping their children learn, improved the involved parents' understanding of their children's various developmental…

Using the split-middle methods of trend estimation, evaluates the accuracy of interpretation of single subject data by comparing raters' visual analysis of behavior change with statistical determination of behavior change. Results indicate visual analysis accuracy was less than chance. Rater and student characteristics largely did not affect the…

Examines the relationship between kindergartners' (N=168) perceptions of competence and teacher comments. Results indicate that teachers did not more frequently praise students who had higher perceptions of competence than students with lower perceptions. No relationship emerged concerning the effects of teacher praise or criticism on changes in…

Demonstrates how data smoothing procedures--procedures commonly used in the development of continuous test norms--can provide better estimates of the reliability, uniqueness, and general factor characteristics for the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, third edition, subtests. Suggests that such procedures are applicable to other test…

Details the development of a new objective self-report instrument--the Internalizing Symptoms Scale for Children (ISSC)--for assessing the broad domain of internalizing symptomatology in children. Discusses results of a factor analysis and describes potential uses of the ISSC. Implications for future assessment in child psychopathology are…

Delineates competencies needed by school psychologists in the provision of counseling services to culturally diverse clients. Develops an exploratory measure of multicultural counseling competence in school psychology practice, the Multicultural School Psychology Counseling Competency Scale. This scale assesses trainers' perceptions of the…

Identifies developmental, social skill, and problem behavior subdomains that best predict academic achievement and grade promotion or retention in the early school years. Tests of 184 students at the end of kindergarten and then one year later indicate that social skills assessment should be included in kindergarten screening packages. (RJM)

Examined coping strategies employed by 187 fourth and fifth graders who encountered academic failure. Results indicate that positive copers were more likely to have an intrinsic orientation to success, to experience less negative emotions following failure, to attribute failure to unstable rather than stable factors, and to have higher perceptions…

Examined variables influencing teacher referrals regarding children suspected of having developmental or behavioral problems. Results indicate that younger children were not referred at a disproportionate rate, as compared to their older classmates. African American children were referred at a disproportionate rate for developmental handicap…

Assessed the effect of cocaine/polydrug in utero exposure on early childhood development while controlling for covariant factors. Analysis of two matched samples of preschoolers (20 with drug exposure and 20 without) revealed that both groups scored approximately one standard deviation below the expected mean in social skills, auditory…