Ronald C. Eaves

The criterion-related validity of the Childhood Autism Rating Scale and the Autism Behavior Checklist

The present study sought to examine the relationship between two popular instruments for screening autistic children: the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) and the Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC). The sample included 77 individuals. The records of 48 subjects contained firm diagnoses of autism, while the suggestion of autism was found in the remaining records. Correlations between the two scales ranged from −.16 to .73 (median=.39). The validity coefficient between the two total scores was .67. Using cutoff scores recommended by the authors, an analysis of the sensitivity of the two instruments was conducted. The CARS correctly identified 98% of the autistic subjects; it identified 69% of the possibly autistic as autistic. The ABC correctly identified 88% of the autistic subjects, while it identified 48% of those subjects considered possibly autistic as autistic. A phi coefficient was computed to estimate the degree of relationship between the nominal classifications produced by the two instruments. A moderate relationship was found, (rφ = .54). Implications of the results are discussed.

Visual Displays To Increase Comprehension of High School Learning-Disabled Students

The purpose of this study was to examine the relative effectiveness of visual spatial displays to enhance comprehension of important information during instruction with adolescent learning-disabled students. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups. One group was taught by presenting key concepts with a visual spatial display of this information. The other group was taught the same information except that content was presented by texts. Both treatment groups studied in a group task structure. Six experimenter-made tests were developed for this study. Five tests directly measured student mastery of the content taught, whereas the other test was a transfer measure. Results favored the group taught with a visual spatial display on the short-term recall tests, but no differences were found on the transfer or maintenance tests. The discussion focuses on how teachers can improve comprehension instruction for the less skilled student.

Using Teacher Judgment and IQ to Estimate Reading and Mathematics Achievement in a Remedial-Reading Program.

This study investigated the relative merits of using teacher judgment and the Slosson Full-Range Intelligence Test to estimate the math and reading achievement of students in a summer remedial-reading program. The subjects included children in grades kindergarten through six who were enrolled in the Auburn University Summer Clinic. Components analyses showed that the Slosson Full-Range Intelligence Test recovered substantially more variance from the distributions of the KeyMath-Revised and the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests-Revised than did teacher judgments. Analysis of variance showed that significant differences between the means of the three tests resulted from the inclusion of students with learning disabilities. Implications of the results are discussed.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis of an Instrument Designed to Measure Affective and Cognitive Arousal

The Visual Similes Test II is a research instrument designed to measure the construct of arousal. The test consists of two forms: an affective form and a cognitive form. Previous research has indicated that a strong negative relationship exists between affective arousal and behavior problems; likewise, cognitive arousal has a strong positive relationship with measured intelligence. This investigation examined the rationale behind the development of the Visual Similes Test II. In addition, the construct validity of scores produced by the Visual Similes Test II was examined with a sample of 216 children ranging in age from 10 to 12 years through confirmatory factor analysis using the AMOS program. The results of the analysis supported previous research findings and the hypothesis that the Visual Similes Test II measures the concepts of affective arousal and cognitive arousal.

The Differential Effects of Two Systematic Reading Comprehension Approaches with Students with Learning Disabilities

This study compared two highly dissimilar approaches for teaching students to determine character motive when reading three types of narrative text. The three text types used were textually explicit, textually implicit, and scriptually implicit. The two approaches were an explicit rule-based instruction approach and a basal-reader activity-based approach. Forty students with learning disabilities were randomly assigned to either the explicit rule-based or the basal-reader activity-based instructional group. Daily instructional sessions lasted 45 minutes and were conducted for 2 weeks. The groups were evaluated on four comprehension measures: (a) daily retells of stories, (b) unit tests, (c) a transfer measure, and (d) a maintenance measure. The results suggest that rule-based instruction is superior to an activity-based approach when teaching students with learning disabilities to determine character motives irrespective of text type on short-term measures. However, there were no significant differences between the two instructional groups on the maintenance and transfer tests.

The Cognitive Levels Test: Its Relationship with Reading and Mathematics Achievement.

Any instrument designed to measure broad cognitive ability is expected to correlate substantially with valid measures of academic achievement. This report describes an investigation designed to evaluate the relationship between the Cognitive Levels Test, a newly available instrument, and two tests of academic achievement that have been widely used for nearly two decades: the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests and the KeyMath Diagnostic Arithmetic Test. The study included children in grades K-2 who were enrolled in a remedial summer school program. The results showed the Cognitive Levels Test (Cognitive Index) to be rather highly correlated with the KeyMath Diagnostic Arithmetic Test Total score (r=.72) and moderately correlated with the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests Total Reading score (r=.55). A repeated measures analysis of variance comparing standard scores for the Cognitive Levels Test with those of the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests indicated few mean differences between the two sets of scores. Implications concerning the validity of the Cognitive Levels Test were discussed.

The Reliability of Scores for the Draw-A-Person Intellectual Ability Test for Children, Adolescents, and Adults

The reliability of scores for the Draw-A-Person Intellectual Ability Test for Children, Adolescents, and Adults is examined with a sample of 110 college students from two universities in the southeast. The alpha coefficient for the total sample and the interscorer and intrascorer reliability for a subset of 31 students are analyzed. The alpha coefficient for the 23 items for the total sample was .82. The correlation coefficient for IQ is .83 for interscorer reliability and .92 for intrascorer reliability. Results are consistent with those reported by the test authors.

The Construct Validity of the Cognitive Levels Test and the Academic Levels Test when Compared with the WISC-R and PIAT for a Group of Adjudicated Delinquents

The construct validity of four test batteries (i.e., the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised; Cognitive Levels Test; Peabody Individual Achievement Test; and Academic Levels Test) was investigated for a group of adjudicated delinquent youth. The degree of convergent and discriminant validity indicated by the intercorrelations among the 18 scores obtained was evaluated. Results revealed that the constructs of cognitive ability and academic achievement were supported insofar as the correlations were generally higher than those typically found in the literature. Also, the ranks of groups of correlations were ordered as hypothesized. Briefly, (a) reliabilities of individual tests were highest in magnitude; (b) correlations between scores matched on the basis of content (e.g., Verbal Reasoning and Verbal IQ) were second; (c) correlations between measures of the same broad construct (e.g., cognitive ability: Quantitative Reasoning and Verbal IQ) ranked third; and (c) correlations between measures of unmatched constructs (e.g., cognitive ability [Performance IQ] and achievement [Spelling]) were lowest. Multiple comparisons to examine differences between mean scores revealed few significant differences. On the whole, the results were interpreted as providing strong support for the validity of the batteries. Departures from the generally positive conclusions were discussed.

Cognition and Academic Achievement: The Relationship of the Cognitive Levels Test, the KeyMath Revised, and the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests-Revised.

This study evaluated the ability of the Cognitive Levels Test to estimate current achievement in mathematics (as measured by the KeyMath Revised) and reading (as measured by the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests-Revised) among a group of normal children attending a private school. The validity coefficients resulting from the analysis indicated that the Cognitive Levels Test scores were moderately to highly correlated with the WRMT-R and KMR, respectively. Repeated-measures analyses of variance yielded no significant main effect for the CLT/KMR scores, but did identify a main effect for the CLT/WRMT-R scores. Follow-up multiple comparisons revealed one significant difference between the various mean scores: The CLT Verbal Reasoning mean was significantly greater than the WRMT-R Passage Comprehension mean. Given the substantial correlations and generally nonsignificant differences between mean scores, the results were judged as strong evidence of the validity of the CLT for the purpose of estimating math and reading achievement.

Cognition and Academic Achievement: The Relationship of the Cognitive Levels Test to the Keymath and Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests

This study evaluated the ability of the Cognitive Levels Test to estimate current achievement in mathematics (as measured by the KeyMath Diagnostic Arithmetic Test) and reading (via the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests) among a group of 43 handicapped and at-risk children. The validity coefficients resulting from the analysis indicated that the Cognitive Levels Test provides valid estimates of mathematics and reading achievement. A repeated measures analysis of variance yielded just one score that was significantly different from other scores in the set. That is, the Letter Identification score of the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test was found to be significantly greater than all other reading and cognitive scores. Although the Cognitive Levels Test scores met criteria for convergent-discriminant validity with regard to the KeyMath Diagnostic Arithmetic Test scores, the results were less promising regarding the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test.