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There are few studies that have directly examined teachers’ perceptions of children with ADHD, particularly children in the adolescent age range. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of general‐education ninth through twelfth grade teachers regarding working with adolescent students with ADHD. Sorted responses from a sample of 100 general‐education high school teachers were analysed and then represented visually using a concept‐mapping technique. The final concept map suggests that teachers perceive adolescents with ADHD along two dichotomies of thematic clusters on an orthogonal axis. Clusters at the top area of the concept map suggest perceptions related to high confidence and willingness, while clusters at the bottom suggest perceptions related to uneasiness and frustration. Clusters along the left side of the concept map suggest perceptions related to behaviour issues, while clusters along the right side suggest perceptions related to classroom teaching issues. Central to the verti...

(2004). Responding to the Needs of Children, Families, and Schools: The 2002 Multisite Conference on the Future of School Psychology. School Psychology Review: Vol. 33, Special Issue Proceedings of the Multisite Conference on the Future of School Psychology, pp. 12-33.

Eleven broad themes emerged from the 2002 multisite conference on the Future of School Psychology. After the conference, strategies developed by the participants were clustered into the following d...

The study investigated school psychologists' continuing professional development (CPD) needs and their relationship to selected demographic factors, preservice training, incentives, and typical engagement in various CPD activities. A survey questionnaire was mailed to 500 randomly selected National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) members, and responses were received from 235. Respondents reported their greatest CPD needs to be in the areas of direct service and consultation. No demographic variables were related to respondents' CPD needs. Few preservice training or incentive factors were related to CPD needs. Respondents' perceived value of preservice training in CPD management was related to their CPD needs, but few respondents reported that they had received this type of preservice training. Several personal incentives for CPD, including self-assessment of CPD needs, opportunity to practice new skills and receive feedback during CPD training, and opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of CPD training and CPD goal attainment were related to CPD needs. Respondents' CPD needs in each specific skill area, including direct service, consultation, assessment, program planning and evaluation, supervision, and research, had significant but low correlations with the amount of actual CPD activity in the respective skill area. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The article examines the content, authorship, and types of articles published in School Psychology Review for the past 10 years. Results suggest that the journal publishes research and review artic...

Potential limitations in assessment practices with children who have severe mental retardation have been identified in the literature. The purpose of the study was to investigate the extent to which practicing school psychologists use alternative methods as opposed to standardized/norm-referenced measures in the assessment of children suspected or identified as having moderate to severe/profound mental retardation. As part of a larger survey, assessment practices of school psychologists with children functioning in the more severe level of mental retardation were reported by 202 school psychologists. Results suggest that school psychologists use norm-referenced measures at all grade/age levels. Various other types of methods were also noted by 0.5 to 35.8% of the respondents, with the highest frequency of alternative approaches employed at the preschool level. Implications for assessment practices with children with moderate to severe/profound mental retardation and for the training of school psychologists in alternative methods of evaluation consistent with the need to link assessment to intervention are discussed.

An important area of inquiry in the assessment of intelligence lies in the area of giftedness. If proper educational decisions are to be made for children referred for gifted services, it is imperative that educational and psychological service providers understand factors influencing the response patterns of children with high levels of academic aptitude. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate four models of intellectual abilities using confirmatory factor analytic methods and data obtained on a sample of 197 children referred for services in an experimental gifted program. Although all four models provided results indicative of a plausible fit, a model posited on a revised version of Horn and Cattell's theory of fluid-crystallized abilities provided the broadest understanding of the cognitive functioning of children referred for gifted services.

(1996). Editor's Comments: School Psychology Review: Celebrating 25 Years of Publication and Approaching the 21st Century. School Psychology Review: Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 2-8.

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews some of the important standards that pertain to the use of adaptive behavior assessments. It describes a number of professional standards, standards for diagnosis and classification, ethical principles, and legal issues that impact assessment practices of professionals. Implications of these for adaptive behavior assessment, including assessment with the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System-II are summarized. Professionals that engage in adaptive behavior assessment are encouraged to apply these standards to their practices. The use of measures of adaptive behavior is guided by four sets of standards: those governing test development and use, those informing diagnoses and classifications of individuals, those guiding ethical behaviors of professionals, and those established by laws and related legal policies and practices, including case law. When engaged in high stakes testing, the Standards emphasizes the importance of acquiring information from multiple sources through the use of multiple assessment methods that allow professionals to assess various personal qualities in ways that lead to a description of behaviors as they occur in various settings over some period of time.

Publisher Summary Adaptive behavior refers to the ways individuals meet their personal needs as well as deal with the natural and social demands in their environments. One may think of adaptive behavior as a constellation of skills that allow a person to function effectively every day at home, school, work, and in the community. An understanding of the importance of adaptive behavior requires some knowledge of its history and evolution, including its close association with assessment and identification of individuals with mental retardation. This chapter provides a historical background for adaptive behavior and its use, traces changes in the definitions of adaptive behavior, reviews the development of tests of adaptive behavior, and discusses age and demographic differences in adaptive behavior. The background information is provided by drawing on information from events in Europe and the United States. The various ways in which information from the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System-II (ABAS-II) may be used are also discussed.

The records of 979 preschool children were used to determine if differences in early childhood development can be accounted for by differences in performance on three measures of the Early Screening Profiles. A 2 × 2 × 3 (Race × Gender × Maternal education) MANOVA design was used for analysis with Cognitive/Language, Self-Help/Social, and Motor Profile standard scores as the three dependent variables. No statistically significant multivariate three-way or two-way interactions were observed. Univariate follow-ups to statistically significant main effects for race and maternal education that yielded statistically significant F values (a = .01) produced the following: (a) children classified as white scored significantly higher than children classified as black on both the Cognitive and Motor Profiles; (b) children for whom mothers reported high or medium levels of formal education scored higher than children for whom mothers reported low levels of formal education on the Cognitive Profile; and (c) children for whom mothers reported medium levels of formal education scored significantly higher than children for whom mothers reported low levels of formal education on the Motor Profile.

Publisher Summary The diagnosis of mental retardation can have a profound impact on a person's life. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) distinguishes four categories of mental retardation based on degrees of severity: mild mental retardation, moderate mental retardation, severe mental retardation, and profound mental retardation. The diagnosis of mental retardation requires documentation that an individual displays diminished levels of intelligence as well as significant deficits in adaptive behavior during the developmental period. Adaptive behavior generally refers to a person's ability to meet the standards of personal behavior and independence expected from peers of their age within their culture. Measures of adaptive behavior typically ask respondents who know the person well to indicate whether the person displays important behaviors associated with a variety of adaptive behaviors. Individuals with mental retardation differ in their adaptive skill strengths and deficits and, except for those with severe and profound levels, are unlikely to show significant deficits in all areas of functioning.

A survey of test usage for adult assessment was responded to by 402 professionals. Based on the responses of 313 individuals who assess adults, the following instruments were the most popular in each domain: WAIS-R or WAIS (intelligence), WRAT-R or WRAT (achievement), MMPI (personality), Vineland (adaptive behavior), and Strong-Campbell (vocational interest). There was a tendency for the most popular instruments to be seen as providing the information of greatest importance, although Draw-A-Person was a clear exception to that finding. Other questions in the survey explored the respondents! perceptions of the strong and weak aspects of intelligence tests, the purposes for which intelligence tests are used, and the domains that are in greatest need of new instruments.

This study aimed to cross-validate the factor analysis of the McCarthy Scales and to determine the construct validity of these scales for children who score one standard deviation below the normative mean on general cognitive ability. The sample was comprised of 77 children aged 6 to 8 1 2 with a mean General Cognitive Index (GCI) of 61.6. Principal factor analysis produced four meaningful factors which corresponded closely to four of the scales on McCarthy's battery. The present findings discourage the interpretation of the Quantitative Scale for school-age children with GCIs below 84. Other implications of the results for the interpretation of McCarthy profiles for low-scoring school-aged children are discussed.

Adaptive behavior measures have become an integral part of the assessment of handicapped children, and much research has implications for the appropriate use of these measures. This article explores relevant research and applies the research to the interpretation of assessment results for a 12-year-old boy. Issues in adaptive behavior assessment and guidelines for practitioners are presented in order to provide an empirical rationale for test interpretation.

15 Educable Mentally Retarded children, aged 6 1/2 to 8 1/2 yr., were tested on the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities and the Stanford-Binet (1972 norms). All children were tested over a 6-mo. period in public schools located in Northeast Georgia. Since 8 of the 15 children obtained General Cognitive Indexes below the norms presented in the McCarthy manual, extrapolated scores were assigned to increase the precision of the comparison. Although the two scores correlated significantly, the mean Index with IQ was significantly lower than the mean IQ for this sample of educable mentally retarded children. The implications of the findings were discussed.

The use of individual intelligence tests for gifted assessment is widespread and when used appropriately, intelligence tests can provide valuable information for making decisions about placement and educational programs for the gifted. The purpose of this article is to discuss the many positive aspects of using intelligence tests in gifted assessment. These include the ability of intelligence tests to accurately predict academic and everyday success, the outstanding psychometric properties of intelligence tests, and the utility of intelligence tests in identifying giftedness in handicapped children, underachievers, and others who don't fit the typical pattern of giftedness. The article concludes with recommendations for the intelligent use of intelligence tests with gifted individuals.

Adaptive behavior has become an increasingly important component of the assessment of children referred for learning and behavioral problems in educational settings. Yet the construct of adaptive behavior remains ill defined, and fundamental questions about the nature of adaptive behavior remain unanswered. As a result, measures of adaptive behavior are often problematic. Among the most important of these fundamental questions is the nature of the underlying relation between adaptive behavior and intelligence. The present study used confirmatory factor analysis and 556 school-age children from the overlap of the standardization sample of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale and the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children to test three models of the relation between adaptive behavior and intelligence: as identical underlying constructs, as completely unrelated constructs, or as separate but related constructs. The model specifying adaptive behavior and intelligence as separate but related constructs proved significantly better than either competing model. Similar results were obtained for preschool children and low-ability school-age children, further suggesting that adaptive behavior and intelligence should be considered as separate but related constructs. Two plausible models to further explain the nature of this relation are presented.

Although extrapolated IQs are available for Wechsler's intelligence scales, extrapolated values for the General Cognitive Index of the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities have not been presented. This study derived regression equations from the normative sample data and computed estimated composite raw scores corresponding to the indexes above 150 and below 50. Extrapolated values are useful for estimating a child's present level of functioning; however, because extrapolated values are not based on empirical data, they should be viewed as estimates and used with caution.

In this investigation, the relationships between the McCarthy Scales General Cognitive Index, the McCarthy Screening Test, Kaufman's McCarthy short form, and the Peabody Individual Achievement Test were examined. The sample included 39 children randomly selected from four classes in an elementary school. Results indicated that the Estimated General Cognitive Index by Kaufman's short form was virtually identical to the McCarthy Scales (full form) Index. The McCarthy Scales, McCarthy Screening Test, and Kaufman's short form all correlated significantly (p=.01) with the Peabody Individual Achievement Test, with the exception of the McCarthy Motor Scale. Moreover, there was no significant difference between the Peabody Total Test/Kaufman McCarthy short form correlation of.55 and the Peabody Total Test/McCarthy Screening Test correlation of.54 (t=0.09). Implications of these findings are discussed.

In recent years, a great deal of research concerning adaptive behavior scales has been conducted. This article reviews adaptive behavior research in the following areas: the relationship between adaptive behavior and intelligence and school achievement, the relationship between different measures of adaptive behavior, predictive aspects, declassification, group differences in adaptive behavior, the relationship between parents' and teachers' ratings, factorial dimensions, the effects of training and intervention, and stability and interrater reliability.