Explores extra-year placements for children considered at risk for early school failure before entering the first grade. Fourth-grade follow-up achievement outcome data of placed and nonplaced transitional extra-year school readiness samples indicate a nonsignificant standardized score difference, as noted in the second-grade findings. Study…

Illustrates how school psychological services were evaluated in two elementary schools. Questionnaires were used to solicit input from students regarding individual counseling and classroom guidance activities. Rating scales were used to solicit input from parents regarding the assessment service and from building staff regarding their perception…

This case study describes a selective mute Mexican American boy, who, at initial referral, had never spoken to peers or teachers at school. Treatment procedures employed shaping and reinforcement of speech in therapy sessions. Sessions involved the psychologist alone, the classroom teacher and psychologist, the boy's best friend and the…

Discusses research and theory of play in children's development and factors reducing the amount of play time children experience. Surveyed teachers' attitudes toward play, and provision of play for children in grades one through six. Teachers from rural areas provided more play time than teachers from suburban areas, who in turn provided more play…

Studied black five-year olds from a school in an impoverished urban area (n=32) and white five-year olds from a blue-collar suburban area (n=32) for their school achievement at the end of kindergarten. The same cognitive intervention was attempted with children from both school populations. Discusses research methodology and research findings. (KW)

Examines the symptoms of self-reported internalizing symptoms (e.g., depression and anxiety) of mid-elementary-age gifted students as compared to a control sample of non-gifted students. Results show that gifted students reported significantly fewer internalizing symptoms than did the comparison group. Findings are contrasted with previous…

Assesses information processing and memory functioning in 50 children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) with and without learning disabilities (LD). Both groups struggled with auditory ordered recall. The ADHD/LD group demonstrated more problems transferring information into short-term and long-term memory stores than…

Administered an ability scale to 53 children identified as having a learning disability approximately three years after each had been administered an intelligence scale. Results indicate that the ability scale correlated highly with the intelligence test. Differences in scores in specific measures were nonsignificant. Other findings are discussed.…

Obtained intelligence scale scores to predict academic achievement scores on a comprehensive testing program given at the end of grades one, two, and three. Results show that correlations between achievement and verbal IQ are significant at all three grade levels. Findings indicate that verbal abilities are more predictive of academic achievement…

Used 105 learning disabled children in grades one through three to assess the psychometric properties of a pictorial scale of perceived competence. Results reveal a three-factor solution for factor structure: (1) academic competence; (2) physical competence; and (3) social acceptance. Findings suggest that learning disabled pupils can discern…

Examines the construct validity of a scale for 7-year-old children and analyzes the degree of factorial similarity between this analysis and another study performed on 4-year-old children. Results indicate that the cognitive abilities measured by the scale become more general with age and the level of schooling. (RJM)

Compares the predictive and concurrent validities of a learning efficiency test with that of another test. Memory factor scores of the learning efficiency test correlated significantly with the other test's scores, with class grades, and with actual grade-level functioning in reading. The learning efficiency test's validity compares favorably to…

Investigates performance differences on receptive vocabulary and general verbal reasoning ability of 206 Hualapai Indian children. Results indicate Hualapai children score significantly lower on both measures of verbal ability when compared to national norms. Findings provide a long-needed archival record of the Hualapai's English language…

Examined the use of eye-gaze as a response mode so as to determine whether changes in response modes altered test scores. Testing of 80 children, ages 8-12, revealed no significant difference in response modes, meaning that eye-gaze can be an acceptable response mode for students with severe motor and language disabilities. (RJM)

Parents (n=64) rated their four- and five-year-old children's positive and negative behaviors so as to investigate interparent agreement. Results indicate low to moderate interparent correlations across all four scales. Absolute differences between pairs of mothers' and fathers' ratings were large and consistent across instruments. (RJM)