The Portland Problem Behavior Checklist

The Portland Problem Behavior Checklist (PPBC) is described for aiding school personnel in identifying problem behaviors of students. Test reliability and validity data are reported. The PPBC appears to offer a quick format useful for clinical referrals, assessment, and initial evaluation.     

Congruence and typology of diagnoses in school psychology: An empirical study

Focus is directed upon the logic and import of the assumption that effective preventative and remedial mental health service demands reasonable agreement among service providers as to the nature and course of psychological problems. The study proceeds to test the belief that school psychologists improve in diagnostic agreement as a function of increased training and experience. Seventy-two randomly selected members of groups of novice, intern, and expert school psychologists were presented with three child case studies containing a full breadth of information and were subsequently asked to render diagnoses. It was found that diagnostic agreement was absent at all levels of experience, and further, a trend was noted wherein school psychologists tended to demonstrate increasing disagreement with one another as they acquired more training and experience. The findings were examined in the context of comparative research from allied mental health and educational specialties, with a special concern for discovering prevailing patterns of decision-making errors that result in reduced diagnostic agreement and validity.     

The relationship between kindergartners' play and achievement in prereading,language, and writing

The study examined the relationship between play and selected demographic variables (sex and SES) and kindergartners' achievement in prereading, language, and writing. Play was observed and ranked according to Smilansky's cognitive play categories. Prereading and language achievement were measured by the Metropolitan Reading Readiness Test; writing achievement was measured by students' word writing fluency. Sixty-five kindergartners (37 male, 28 female) were tested and observed in the classrooms over a four-week period. Multiple regression and ANOVA procedures were employed to determine the extent to which play, SES, and sex predicted student achievement. Play was a significant predictor of success on all three measures of achievement (p < .01). SES and sex appeared to have little influence on the prediction of achievement. There were significant main effects due to play for all achievement variables (p < .001). Post hoc analyses indicated that dramatic play had the most significant impact on play (p < .05). Pedagogical implications are made.     

Validation of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children with a sample of preschool children

The validity of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) (Kaufman & Kaufman, 1983) was investigated with a sample of preschool-age children. The sample consisted of 50 subjects aged 21/2 through 4 who were distributed roughly equally by age, sex, and race according to the 1980 census. The validity of the K-ABC was examined using the Slosson Intelligence Test (SIT) (Slosson, 1982) and the Classroom Behavior Inventory-Preschool Form (CBI) (Schaefer & Edgerton, 1978) as criterion measures. The SIT and CBI-Preschool Form Verbal Intelligence Scale were found to correlate significantly (p<.01) with the global scales of the K-ABC. The K-ABC did not differentiate between age or sex groups, but blacks scored lower than whites. The findings are supportive of previous validity studies (Kaufman & Kaufman, 1983) and two-factor theories of intelligence (e.g., Das, Kirby, & Jarman, 1975).     

Rate of conceptual development among deaf preschool and primary children as compared to a matched group of nonhearing impaired children

Seventeen deaf children and a matched group of 17 nonhearing impaired children were assessed to compare rate of basic concept development. The results indicate that deaf children scored approximately two standard deviations below their matched nonhearing impaired peers. Additionally, the deaf children exhibited a relatively flat subtest proffle, suggesting that basic concepts that have not been specifically taught remain uniformly delayed for deaf children.     

Concurrent validity of the test of nonverbal intelligence with learning disabled children

Results of the TONI, WISC-R, and WRAT were compared for a sample of 66 learning disabled children: 51 males (32 white, 19 black) and 15 females (9 white, 6 black) whose mean age was 9–5 (SD = 1–10). The mean score of the TONI was significantly different from the Performance IQ. Nonsignificant differences were found between the TONI and Full Scale IQ and between the TONI and Verbal IQ. Correlation coefficients between the TONI and WISC-R ranged from a low of .35 for the Verbal IQ to .44 for both the Full Scale and Performance IQs. The correlation coefficients between the TONI and standard scores of the WRAT were .38, .27, and .23, for Reading, Spelling, and Arithmetic, respectively. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Comparison of personality profiles for intellectually gifted students and students outstanding in the fine and performing arts attending self-contained secondary schools

The study included 199 intellectually gifted students and 176 students in the fine and performing arts who were administered the High School Personality Questionnaire. The results indicated that the gifted students obtained higher Leadership Potential scores, while the talented students scored higher in Creativity. Several significant differences were found in the personality profiles of the two groups.