Janna Siegel

Differential Categorization of Words by Learning Disabled, Gifted, and Nonexceptional Students

This research was done to answer whether learning disabled students attend to different word features than nonexceptional and gifted students and whether there is a difference by grade Word sorts of meaningful and nonsense words were used to estimate differences between 145 first- and fifth-grade learning disabled, nonexceptional, and gifted groups. Analyses indicated that 54 learning disabled students were more likely to provide no response or to give simpler responses than 61 nonexceptional or 30 gifted peers. Older children (n = 78) attended to more and varied word features, were more likely to focus on recognizable meaning, and were more able to use syllables as a tool for sorting than were 67 younger children. Significant differences were noted between grade and exceptionality groups. Implications for practical application and further research are discussed.

An interview with Alan Kaufman

Dr. Alan Kaufman is one of the leading figures in intellectual and achievement testing alive today. With his wife Dr. Nadeen Kaufman, he has constructed the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (the K ABC), the Kaufman Adolescent and Adult Intelligence Scale (the KAIT), the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (the KBIT), the Kaufman Test of Edu cational Achievement (K-TEA), and most recently, the Kaufman Survey of Early Academic and Language Skills (K-SEALS), the Kaufman Short Neuropsychological Assessment Procedure (K-SNAP), and the Kaufman Functional Academic Skills Test (K-FAST). Dr. Kaufman is currently Research Professor at the University of Ala bama. He has recently published Intelligent Testing with the WISC-III, and he is the author of the 1990 text, Assessing Adolescent and Adult Intelligence. The interview was conducted by phone to assist the third author with his masters thesis and to assist the first and second author with their re search in the assessment of learning disabilities. 1. Q. What new areas of assessment (for example, adaptive behavior or social skills) are you currently working on? A. The most recent things Nadeen and I have developed are the KAIT (Kaufman Adolescent and Adult Intelligence Test), which came out in 1993, and some brief instruments. We recently published the K-FAST (Kaufman Functional Academic Skills Test), which is a functional academic skills test for ages 15 and above. Another new test is the K-SNAP (Kaufman Short Neurological Assessment Procedure) (which is a brief neuropsychological assessment procedure), for ages 11 and above. So, basically, Nadeen and I have been concentrating in the area of adolescent and adult assessment. We are still mostly looking at cognitive abilities, but are also branching out a little bit with the K-FAST into other areas. We are looking at func