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This paper discusses the findings from a study that investigated the information processing characteristics of 93 children (ages 8-16) who have been diagnosed as having either attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) only, ADHD-Predominately Inattentive Type, and combined ADHD and learning disabilities (LD). Thirty-nine average students, who had no identified disabilities, were used to compare the three groups of children with ADHD. Results from a discriminate functions analysis showed that the Learning Efficiency Test-II (LET-II) test pattern performance was 83.9 percent successful in differentiating between the three ADHD groups from the average group. The overall group classification rate was 57.6 percent. Examination of the subtest profile of the three groups with ADHD indicated an unusual recall pattern in that there was either an inverted-V or V profile when comparing the impact of verbal interference on serial free recall memory span. The average group showed a more typical profile of losing incrementally more information with each additional source of verbal interference. Results indicate that there are substantial processing differences among the three groups of learners in terms of their levels of information retention and recall, but that there exist characteristic patterns of retention and recall that are similar across the groups. (Author/CR)

This paper examines the discriminative validity of the Learning Efficiency Test II (LET-II; Webster, 1998) in distinguishing among children diagnosed as having ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) only, ADHD and an accompanying learning disability, ADHD-predominantly inactive type, and a control group. Children (N=132) between the ages of 8 and 16 who referred to a private clinic for psychoeducational evaluations participated in the survey. Each of the participants in the attention deficit groups had been previously identified by at least two professionals as having the specific disorder. Participants for the control group were children referred for other reasons such as underachievement, family problems, or emotional concerns. Analysis determined that the LET-II provided an overall discrimination rate of 57.6% in distinguishing among the four groups of learners. In addition, when comparing the simple dichotomy of the combined ADHD groups as being distinguished from the average group, the LET-II correctly identified 78 of 93 total participants, to yield an 83.9% accuracy rate in distinguishing between ADHD and the non-ADHD group. The data suggests that ADHD may be a disorder involving some kind of atypical cognitive processing where the child is unable to access and retrieve information from either short-term and/or long-term memory stores quickly and efficiently. (JDM)

This paper presents a summary of the research literature concerning the psychological and behavioral impact of sexual abuse of children and adolescents. It examines the dynamics involved in the process of making such determinations and examines the utility of using Human Figure Drawings as part of an assessment battery to determine the probability of whether a child has been sexually abused. In addition, it presents findings from an ongoing research study involving 62 sexually abused children and their performance patterns on Human Figure Drawings. It contains an objective scoring system that can be used as a tool by school psychologists to analyze Human Figure Drawings. This system can be used to determine the probability that a child demonstrating learning, emotional, or behavioral adjustment problems may be in need of further psychological evaluation to rule out the possibility of sexual abuse. Table 1 is "Definition of Emotional Indicators"; table 2 is "Descriptive Statistics for the Abused and Control Groups"; table 3 is "Order of Drawings Relative to the Child's Own Gender by Group"; table 4 is "Number of EIs made by Individuals within Each Group"; and table 5 is "Distribution of Total EIs < 10 for Abused Children." Also included is the "Summary Sheet of Emotional Indicators in Human Figure Drawings." (Contains 10 references.) (JDM)

Over 300,000 children are sexually abused annually in the United States, with 84,320 new cases of child sexual abuse occurring each year (National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse, 1498). It is inevitable that educators and mental health professionals working in the schools will become involved with some of these children. Because of this it is essential that educators understand the dynamics involved in child sexual abuse and know how to respond professionally and legally should a child disclose this experience to them. This paper provides a brief and up-to-date review of the salient aspects of this literature in this area and concludes with a specific discussion about how educators should proceed in the event a child makes such allegations.

Provides a summary of the issues involved in the determination of sexual assault against a child and reviews the empirical literature describing the symptoms which may be manifested by a child who has been sexually abused. (Contains 84 references.) (GCP)

The diagnosis of children as learning disabled (LD) has become an increasingly popular diagnostic rubric, but the operational definition of "learning disabled" remains a vague, ill-defined construct which is based upon diagnosis by exclusion of other obvious causes. Diagnostic test results and cultural and familial information taken from case files of children who had been diagnosed as either LD, educable mentally handicapped, emotionally disturbed, or physically handicapped were examined relative to their discriminative efficacy in differentiating between the four diagnostic groups. A total of 1,596 children between the ages of 6 and 17 years, with close to average intelligence, were used in this study. Discriminant functions analyses were performed on 52 variables; these analyses consistently failed to discriminate LD children from the other three groups. A transpose factor analysis was performed on groups by chronological age, in intervals of three years. Finally, ANOVA's were performed on 17 variables. It was impossible to discriminate between the four diagnostic groups by any of these methods. A more appropriate diagnostic model which accounts for the child's unique processing (organizing, storing, rehearsing and retrieving) of information relative to his content base and ability to perform a corresponding behavior is proposed. (Author/CTM)

The paper reviews the literature on the use of guidelines to identify handicapped children, especially learning-disabled (LD) children, for special programs. Dangers of misidentification of learning-disabled children through rigid use of discrepancy formulas are reported. The paper reviews studies which support: the use of Bannatyne's four factor recategorization model for learning disability identification; the use of diagnostic tests in conjunction with familial and cultural information to distinguish between LD and non-LD children; and the use of standard score and achievement discrepancies in determining eligibility for placement in LD programs. The paper also calls for consideration of the student's attention characteristics, methods of organizing and processing information, and the presence of specific behavior deficits. (11 references) (DB)

Public Law 94-142 mandates the identification and placement of learning disabled children based primarily on the measurement of intelligence. It is, therefore, the responsibility of educational psychologists to use standardized intelligence tests appropriately to accurately and objectively assess a childs' intellectual potential and ability. Three general assumptions underlying the measurement of intelligence are discussed: (1) that intelligence is both measurable and quantifiable; (2) that it is distributed according to a normal curve; and (3) that intelligence remains constant over time. The constancy of intelligence level and the stability of its measurement (test reliability) are important issues. Test reliability may be established according to internal consistency; correlation with equivalent or parallel tests; or, most importantly, consistency of measurement over time. Data on the stability of certain intelligence tests over time are presented. These limited data suggest that the scores of young children are less stable than of older children and adults; that stability decreases as the length of the test-retest interval increases; and that children with various disabilities exhibit more test-retest variation. A formula is presented for estimating an unbiased true score. More research is needed investigating fair methods of placing learning disabled children. (GDC)

A review of nine major studies of preschoolers compares the predictive validity of achievement and psychoeducational tests in the identification of at-risk learners with the predictive validity of socioeconomic information. Findings indicate that tests used for special education identification have only a slightly better than chance prediction rate. More reliable predictors of school success are the race and educational status of the mother, the gender of the child, and the socioeconomic background of mother and child. The studies indicate that no test instruments can predict at-risk learners at an early age better than chance. Observations of children's abilities to follow direction, attend to tasks, visually and sequentially organize tasks, and systematically approach tasks may be the best indicators of early school success and failure. (Author/RH)

Each year large numbers of children experience academic failure during the first 3 years of their public school involvement. Many studies have been done using demographic and norm-referenced tests to try to identify at-risk-for-failure youngsters either at the preschool level or early during their school experience. Most attempts have been costly and of limited success. This study examined the concurrent and predictive validity of performance on a test measuring the information processing characteristics of students to identify youngsters with low achievement in school. Second-grade students (N=380) were individually administered the Learning Efficiency Test (LET) and regression and discriminant analyses were conducted. Variables examined included actual levels of performance in reading and mathematics, California Achievement Test total scores in reading and mathematics, and teacher rankings of overall student achievement levels. Results showed high levels of accuracy for the LET in predicting both achievement levels and in classifying students according to teacher rankings. The LET is easy to administer and reflects a cost-effective approach. Moreover, the predictive efficacy of the LET represents substantial improvements over past studies that used costly and elaborate diagnostic procedures which have failed to identify at-risk students beyond chance levels. (Author/ABL)

Examined institutional affiliations of authors published in three major journals of school psychology ("Psychology in the Schools,""Journal of School Psychology,""School Psychology Review") and two additional journals in the field ("Professional School Psychology,""Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment"). Findings regarding institutional productivity were compared with those obtained from previous studies in this area. (Author/NB)

Currently, the reliance on intelligence tests as the primary criterion for the placement of children in school programs has been challenged. Much of the controversy focuses on the insensitivity of these instruments to individual cognitive styles for different subgroups of children. While the issue of whether intelligence tests measure skill deficits or content deficiencies has not yet been resolved, it is clear that these instruments fail to delineate the specific mental processes involved in verbal and nonverbal performance. It is argued that a diagnostic procedure which attempts to determine how efficiently a child processes different kinds of information could provide a more meaningful assessment of the child's capabilities for learning new verbal material. This assessment would minimize cultural and racial bias, because it emphasizes a person's information-processing strategies without regard to norm-referenced criteria. This paper reviews the role of short-term memory (STM) in academic achievement and performance, and describes a sense of alternative diagnostic procedures which evaluate the child's capacity for acquiring and storing different types of verbal information in STM. Three areas are reviewed: (1) STM capacity; (2) decay and interference effects in STM; and (3) retrieval from STM. (Author/RD)