Ruth L. Gottesman

Admission and Follow-up Status of Reading Disabled Children Referred to a Medical Clinic

Fifty-eight reading disabled children referred to a medical clinic for developmentally disabled children were examined on admission and after 3 to 5 years of special educational intervention. As a group, the children showed minimal gains in reading, remaining among the poorest readers for age. However, one-third of the children (mainly the older ones) made sufficient progress which, while slowly achieved, resulted in a minimal degree of functional reading. A high proportion of the children were diagnosed as having neurologic and/or psychiatric disorders which were unrelated to the level of reading failure found within the group. The findings suggested that such children are not representative of the general population of poor readers in the community and that throughout their schooling they require special educational methods, other than reading, for the acquisition of subject matter.

Predictive Validity of a Screening Test for Mild School Learning Difficulties.

Abstract This study evaluated the extent to which a brief screening measure predicted achievement in children attending the early elementary grades. Screening tests were given to 796 students in kindergarten through second grade. Scores included a pass/fail score to indicate if a student needed comprehensive evaluation, as well as a continuous score to imply the degree of passing or failure. Results were correlated with subsequent teacher ratings, end-of-year grades, and for second grade children, achievement test scores. Screening test scores were found to be significant predictors of school achievement. The magnitude of predictive relationships was generally moderate and typical of those found for other similar tests used with early elementary populations over comparable time periods.

Urban Second Grade Children A Profile of Good and Poor Readers

Physical, neurodevelopmental, psychoeducational, and child history characteristics were analyzed in second-grade, inner-city children identified as good and poor readers. The children were basically healthy with few findings of physical or neurological abnormalities, but there were significant group differences in the prevalence of “soft signs” and in all psychological and educational measures. Good readers showed a relatively even cognitive profile within the normal range of intelligence. On nonverbal cognitive tests, poor readers scored within the low-average intellectual range, although scores on verbal tests were substantially lower. The neurodevelopmental, language, cognitive, and educational profile of the poor readers suggests that, as a group, they are learning disabled. While environmental deprivation may affect their reading achievement in an adverse manner, the assumption that it is the determining factor is not justified. These children require the same identification, evaluation, and follow-up educational services as their more socioeconomically advantaged peers, who are scrutinized for dyslexia or learning disabilities when they show difficulties with beginning reading skills.

The Validity of Einstein Assessment Subtest Scores as Predictors of Early School Achievement

The Einstein Assessment of School-Related Skills was developed to help professionals in education, medicine, and health care identify children who need comprehensive evaluation for school learning problems in grades kindergarten through five. This brief (7- to 10-minute) screening instrument was designed to measure reading, arithmetic, auditory memory, language-cognition, and visual motor abilities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the validity of Einstein subtest scores as predictors of early school achievement. In the fall of 1988, the Einstein was administered to 796 students in kindergarten through second grade from schools in Cleveland, Ohio and the Bronx, New York. Multiple regression analyses were used to identify those subtests that made significant, independent contributions to the prediction of subsequent achievement, with achievement marked by teacher ratings, end-of-year grades, and standardized test scores. Results showed that a single subtest generally predicted as well as the total test, that the best combination of subtests was always an abridgement of the full battery, and that the most powerful predictors tended to be reading measures. Which single subtest or combination predicted best was modulated by both grade level and achievement criterion. Implications of these results for research, clinical practice, and test revision are discussed.

Cross Validation of the Einstein Assessment of School-Related Skills

The Einstein Assessment of School Related Skills is a brief screening measure designed to assist professionals in the educational, medical, and health care fields in identifying children at risk for or experiencing learning problems in grades kindergarten through five. Students identified by the Einstein are intended to be referred for a more comprehensive individual evaluation. The current study presents cross-validation data from a new sample of students from a socioeconomic back-ground similar to the standardization sample. The Einstein Assessment of School-Related Skills was administered to a total of 164 children in grades kindergarten through five who attended two outpatient hospital clinics, one for primary pediatric medicine and the other for children with developmental disabilities. Testing results indicated that between 87% and 89% of the sample was classified correctly. The studys results support the findings from the original test standardization, i.e., that the Einstein is an effective predictor of school learning difficulties.

The Construct Validity of the Einstein Assessment of School-Related Skills:

The Einstein Assessment of School-Related Skills (Gottesman & Cerullo, 1988) was developed to aid professionals in the educational, medical, and health-care fields in identifying children at risk for or experiencing learning problems in grades kindergarten through 5. Their brief (7 to 10 minute) screening instrument was constructed to measure reading, arithmetic, auditory memory, language-cognition, and visual-motor abilities. The items that compose the Einstein are in many cases similar to those found in achievement tests. Therefore, the Einstein should be, in part, a measure of school achievement. However, given the processes used in its development, the Einstein should function as a more effective screening device than traditional achievement measures. This study was undertaken to determine the extent to which the Einstein is a school achievement measure and to determine whether it predicts special education placement better than traditional achievement measures. For students in grades k-3, Einstein scores were correlated with reading and mathematics tests and with teacher ratings. The scores on the Einstein and on the achievement measures were also correlated with the presence or absence of school-diagnosed learning difficulty. Results showed the Einstein to be significantly related to achievement and generally to predict learning difficulty as well as or better than the achievement measures.

Auditory Discrimination Ability in Negro Dialect-Speaking Children

Three groups of 40 first grade boys – Negro dialect-speaking, Negro standard English-speaking, and white standard English-speaking – were given an auditory discrimination test. The test was composed of two kinds of word pairs: (1) those pairs pronounced as homonyms in Negro dialect but as contrasting words in standard English, and (2) those pairs pronounced as contrasting words by all subjects. The word pairs were presented on tape by both Negro dialect and standard English speakers. The purpose of the study was to examine whether differences existed in auditory discrimination ability between the Negro dialect-speaking and the standard English-speaking boys. Results indicate that there were no significant group differences in auditory discrimination performance on those word pairs which could be commonly differentiated in the speech of all subjects. However, both groups of standard English-speaking children scored significantly higher than the group of Negro dialect-speaking children on those word pairs pronounced as homonyms in Negro dialect when they were presented contrastingly by standard English speakers.

Adults With Severe Reading and Learning Difficulties: A Challenge for the Family Physician

Background: An estimated 40 to 44 million adults living in the United States have severe difficulty reading, writing, spelling, and doing arithmetic. These deficiencies interfere with their receiving adequate health care. Many of these adults have reading or other learning disabilities that further compromise their ability to understand their medical conditions and to participate fully in their own care. Methods: The literature on the cognitive and affective characteristics of adults with reading and learning disabilities was searched using the MEDLINE, PsychLIT, and ERIC databases. This literature is reviewed with an emphasis placed on how these characteristics might challenge a family physicians ability to provide optimal patient care, and what can be done to meet these challenges. Illustrative case vignettes of adults with these disabilities are described. Results and Conclusions: The cognitive and affective characteristics of this patient population make it difficult for the family physician to provide optimal medical services. Suggestions are given to make medical care more accessible and appropriate for these patients.

THE DEVELOPMENT AND STANDARDIZATION OF THE EINSTEIN ASSESSMENT OF SCHOOL-RELATED SKILLS - A TEST FOR PEDIATRIC USE

Although pediatricians are showing an increasing interest and concern with regard to children with learning difficulties, there is a lack of well-standardized assessment tools to aid them in identifying these children. The Einstein Assessment of School-Related Skills (EASRS) is a brief (7-10 min), easily administered screening instrument that measures reading, arithmetic, auditory memory, language-cognition, and visual-motor abilities of children in grades K-5. Standardization testing took place in the fall, 1985 and in the spring, 1986 on over 2300 children in regular education classes in grades K-5 and on almost 200 children in the same grades who had been diagnosed as learning disabled (LD) by the Committee on the Handicapped in their respective school districts. The sample was selected to ensure representativeness of the full range of academic ability, socioeconomic status, and sex, as well as various urban and suburban regions in New York State. Analysis for both the fall and spring revealed a high level of discrimination on the total EASRS score between the normal and LD samples in grades 2-5 (numbers of diagnosed LDs in grades K-1 were too small for analysis). The median percent of regular education children in grades 2-5 passing was 77.5% in the fall and 75.0% in the spring, while only 22.5% and 16.0% of LDs passed the test in the fall and spring, respectively. These data indicate that the EASRS is a powerful device in helping the practitioner screen and identify children with learning difficulties.