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Background: Children with Down syndrome (DS) are at risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). They are often diagnosed later than other children in part due to difficulty differentiating ASD-related impairment from that associated with DS. The psychometric properties of the Pervasive Developmental Disorder in Mental Retardation Scale (PDD-MRS) were examined with the aim of informing ASD screening guidelines for children with DS. Method: Analysis of archival data from children aged 3 to 15 years with DS (N = 386) evaluated the reliability and validity of the PDD-MRS. Results: Factor analyses yielded 2 factor-based scales--"ASD" and "Emotional and Behavioural Problems." ASD reliably assessed ASD-specific symptoms, correlated with other ASD measures, and demonstrated good diagnostic accuracy. "Emotional and Behavioural Problems" assessed problems not diagnostic of ASD but may reflect part of the behavioural phenotype of DS and ASD. Conclusion: The PDD-MRS appears to have utility in ASD screening for this population.

Individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often present with co-occurring emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). The Child Behavior Checklist 6-18 (CBCL; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001) is an EBD measure that contains several norm-referenced scales derived through factor analysis of data from the general pediatric population. The psychometric properties of this widely used and well-researched measure have not been evaluated in samples of youth with ASD. This study evaluated the CBCL's internal structure, scale reliability, criterion-related validity, and diagnostic accuracy using archival data from a well-characterized sample of youth with ASD (N = 122). Confirmatory factor analyses supported the unidimensionality of the CBCL's syndrome scales and its internalizing-externalizing factor structure. Significance tests indicated that many scales discriminated between two subgroups: a group of individuals with ASD + EBD and a group with ASD alone. Diagnostic accuracy analyses indicated that the CBCL had good sensitivity but low specificity for detecting co-occurring disorders. Results supported the use of the CBCL in conjunction with other clinical data when assessing for EBD in youth with ASD. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)

The GARS-2 (Gilliam 2006) is widely used for autism screening; however, the validity of its three conceptually-derived subscales has not been evaluated. In this study, exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory (CFA) factor analyses of data from matched subgroups of the standardization sample did not support the GARS-2 subscale structure. EFAs identified four factors in the model development subgroup (n = 496): "stereotyped/repetitive behavior," "stereotyped/idiosyncratic language," "word use problems," and "social impairment." CFAs supported this model in the replication subgroup (n = 494). Findings suggest that the GARS-2 subscales have limited clinical utility and that the Autism Index should be interpreted with caution. Although more research is needed, the clinical utility of the four empirically-derived scales may be limited by factors related to item content and test development procedures.

Validity studies of measures for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) for use with preschool children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are lacking. The Child Behavior Checklist 1.5-5 (CBCL; Achenbach and Rescorla, Manual for the ASEBA Preschool Forms & Profiles. VT: University of Vermont, Research Center for Children, Youth, and Families, Burlington, 2000), a widely used measure for EBD, contains several norm-referenced scales derived through factor analysis of data from the general pediatric population. In this study, confirmatory factor analysis of archival data evaluated the adequacy of the CBCL factor model in a well characterized sample of preschoolers with ASD (N = 128). Psychometric results supported the model and suggested that practitioners can use the CBCL to assess for EBD in young children with ASD in conjunction with other clinical data. This will increase the likelihood of accurate identification and EBD-specific intervention.

This study was conducted to examine an adaptation of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale (VABS) [Sparrow, S. S., Balla, D. A., & Cicchetti, D. V. (1984). "The Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales." Circle Pines, MN: America Guidance Service; Sparrow, S. S., Balla, D. A., & Cicchetti, D. V. (2005). "Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales Second Edition Survey Forms Manual." AGS Publishing] and its psychometric properties in Vietnamese culture. The 1984 version of VABS was translated and adapted to form the Vietnamese version of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VVABS). The scale was administered to 120 Vietnamese mothers of non-disabled preschool-age children enrolled in kindergarten programs. It was found that the VVABS has acceptable levels of internal consistency reliability and construct validity, and could discriminate successfully between Vietnamese children with intellectual disabilities from those of typical development. The results that were comparable to the VABS indicate a successful adaptation of the construct and measure of adaptive behavior to a non-western culture. (Contains 1 figure and 4 tables.)

To purchase or authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2007.00309.x Byline: Shane Gregory Owens (a), Christine G. Bowman (a), Charles A. Dill (a) Abstract: A hypothesized solution for procrastination is the formation of an implementation intention (Van Eerde, 2000). University students (N = 152) were assessed using the Aitken Procrastination Inventory (Aitken, 1982) and were asked to report to an experiment. Half of the participants formed implementation intentions to attend. An odds ratio indicated that participants who formed implementation intentions were nearly 8 times more likely to keep their appointments than those who did not. Low procrastinators reported more often for the experiment than did high procrastinators (Low = 49.4%; High = 30.1%), &khgr;.sup.2(1, N = 152) = 5.84, p < .016. The interaction between implementation intentions and procrastination was not significant, &khgr;.sup.2(1, N = 152) = 0.28, p < .60. Author Affiliation: (a)Hofstra University Article note: (2) Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Shane Gregory Owens, 283 Commack Road, Suite LL 2, Commack, NY 11725. E-mail: psyprofsgo@msn.com

The years following the I Querelle des bouffons i saw the emergence of particular public narratives regarding each composer, Mondonville creating ideal motets, and Rameau, as ever, associated with opera. These activities provided the context for Tommaso Traetta's Italian adaptations of operas by Rameau in the late 1750s and early 1760s, long a topic of interest to Rameau scholars. Rameau scholars of a certain age will recall the published acts of the 1983 international colloquium sponsored by the Société Rameau, which summarized a generation of Rameau scholarship while also inspiring more than a few careers along the way. [Extracted from the article]

Recent formulations of rational-emotive theory posit a four-factor stylistic model of irrational thinking. These factors include Demandingness, Awfulizing, I-Can't-Stand-It-Itis, and Self-Damnation. This study involved a semantic analysis of 16 linguistic variates hypothesized by Ellis and Dryden (1987) and frequently used in clinical practice to represent the four factors. Four variations of a 6-point, Likert-type questionnaire were developed to tap the four factors and the linguistic variates. Subjects were 260 university students and 150 clinical patients, who completed either all four variations (one variation every 2 weeks over a 6-week period) or a single variation only. Confirmatory factor analyses generally failed to support the four-factor model. Exploratory factor analyses suggested that a general factor of irrationality may exist in clinical populations.

Gretry et l'Europe de l'opera-comique contains the proceedings for the 1991 conference in Liege celebrating the 250th anniversary of Andre-Ernest-Modeste Gretry's birth. The goal of this conference was not so [...]

Edited by Philippe Vendrix. (Collection Musique/Musicologie.) Liege: Pierre Mardaga, 1992. [389 p. ISBN 2-87009-483-3. FB1,593.] Gretry et l'Europe de l'opera-comique contains the proceedings for the 1991 conference in Liege celebrating [...]

The incidence of bullying experiences has increased dramatically in recent decades and with little research on Korean-Americans. The goal of this study was to examine the experiences of six to eight grade Korean-Americans and to explore the relationships between bullying, discrimination, depression, and ethnic composition of the school, as set forth by Shin, D'Antonio, Son, Kim, and Park (2011). Path analyses for the victims, bystanders, bullies, and bully-victim combination, respectively, revealed several key findings and differences between middle school and high school. Taken together with Shin et al. (2011), these results suggest that as adolescents grow older, the ethnicity of the individuals or the ethnic composition of the schools may be more influential in the bullying experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In July of 1989, an international conference devoted to music in the French Revolution was held at the Center for Eighteenth-Century Musical Studies at the University of Wales in Cardiff. [...]