Herman Green

Socially maladjusted adolescents' perceptions of their families.

The Family Environment Scale, a 90-item true-false instrument used to evaluate the social climate of families, was administered to 17 socially maladjusted adolescents. The results showed that these adolescents perceived their families as not highly supportive or concerned about each members welfare. These families were perceived as providing little cultural, intellectual or recreational stimulation in the home. The families scored relatively higher on the Conflict subscale which measures the extent to which open expression of anger and aggression are characteristic of the family. Implications of these data for understanding and programming for the socially maladjusted child were discussed. Also the clinical and educational utility, e.g., structuring counseling sessions, planning home visits, of the scale was delineated.

A Basic Program to Compute the Sensitivity, Specificity, and Predictive Values of Screening Tests

A BASIC microcomputer program is presented, which calculates several indices of reliability of a screening test: sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value.

Gaining research access to retarded children in public schools.

The issue of gaining research access to mentally retarded children attending public schools is discussed. Preliminary steps completed prior to conducting a research investigation in the school settings were described within the framework of two independent studies. The important role of the special education teacher in conducting research in the natural environment is delineated.

The overweight preschool retarded child can and should lose weight

In the general population over 40 million Americans have weight problems. Forthe mentally retarded, this area also presents a significant problem. In a recent study (Fox & Rotatori, 1982) we found that sixteen percent of the male and twenty‐five percent of the female retarded individuals were obese. Retarded individuals, like the nonretarded, also tend to have greater weight problems as they grow older (Rotatori, Switzky & Fox, 1981a). Now that we have identified a prevalent condition, lets back‐up for a minute and define what constitutes a weight problem; what causes it; and how a parent might help reduce this condition in their preschool child.

Preschool Children's Conceptual Tempo and Performance on Visual Discrimination Tasks

The present study explored the relationship among conceptual tempo, age, sex, and performance on the Visual Association subtest of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (VA-ITPA). Preschool boys (n = 17) and girls (n = 34) were Ss. Time to the first response to the VA-ITPA rather than the Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFFT) was the measure of response latency. Results indicated that: (a) response error was a function of response latency, (b) response error was a function of age, (c) there was a multiple linear relationship among response latency, age, and response error. It was concluded that response latency not only related to errors on the MFFT but to other visual discrimination tasks.

Teachers as Agents of Behavioral Change for Severely Retarded Students

This paper describes two case studies, which employed behavioral modification procedures to decrease problematic behaviors of severely retarded students. The studies were carried out in public school settings. Special education teachers under the direction of a school psychologist acted as the agents of behavioral change.

Current practices in the identification of children with handicaps

In the United States, the development of techniques to identify children ‘at risk’ has been in progress for at least 25 years in the communities serving children and families. The medical profession was an early leader in the development of screening devices. However, recent federal and state mandates have placed the responsibility for the identification of children ‘at risk’ with the educators. The purpose of the present paper is to present the diversity of procedures used within communities in the identification and assessment of young children with handicaps and to discuss the need and possibility of coordinating these efforts.

Choosing an Intervention for Problem Behaviors of Preschool Handicapped Students.

One problem that faces special education teachers of young handicapped students is choosing among interventions. There has been an increased awareness recently of the issue of level of intrusiveness, or a concern for choosing the least‐restrictive intervention. Certainly the least intrusive, but effective, intervention is the one to choose. But given a level of intrusiveness, how does one choose among interventions? It is the purpose of this paper to discuss considerations for choosing an intervention based upon aspects of the student, the situation, and the intervention itself.

Extended Assessment for Intervention: An Illustrated Case

An assessment/intervention approach that is an extension to more traditional evaluations conducted by school psychologists is described. This approach transforms the typical “testing office” into a simulated learning setting where adjunctive assessment data are obtained and intervention applied. The outcome of this approach is specific recommendations for change that can be immediately taken to the classroom. This extended assessment/intervention method is illustrated through the successful treatment of a two and one half year olds attention deficits.