The prevalence of Autism and other Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) has increased dramatically in recent years. The criterion for a clinical diagnosis of Autism, however, is independent from the special education eligibility requirements for Autism services. While the DSM-IV-TR provides a nationally-accepted definition for Autism and ASD, under…

Through contributions from top leaders in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), "Children and Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder" examines the ASD research literature, discusses procedural implications, and makes recommendations for future practice and inquiry. It combines the most recent developments in established practices with newer and…

Speech-related reaction time measures and fluency-related measures of 24 adult stutterers and a like number of nonstutterers were assessed to determine their diagnostic discriminative power. Findings suggested that both fluency failures and the duration of laryngeal adjustment time are useful diagnostic measures for discriminating stutterers from…

The development of a new standardized investigator-based interview for use in the differential diagnosis of pervasive developmental disorders is described, together with a diagnostic algorithm based on its use. The algorithm correctly identified 16 autistic individuals and none of the 16 nonautistic mentally handicapped subjects. (Author/DB)

The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, a standardized protocol for observation of social and communicative behavior associated with autism, is described. Data on interrater reliability as well as test-retest reliability and discriminant validity are provided. (Author/DB)

This study of 136 children (aged 2 to 10 years) found that children referred for medical evaluation of sexual abuse will use sexually explicit behavior to demonstrate what has happened to them with nonanatomical dolls as frequently as when they are interviewed with anatomically detailed ones. (Author/DB)

Evaluation of 252 children with specific language impairments found varying degrees of congruence between clinically identified children and those identified using discrepancy, deficit, and standardized operational criteria. Results suggest that the global concept of a "specific language impairment" may not be a useful concept for either…

First offers a framework for thinking about diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of autism. Then offers principles of program evaluation, describes components of appropriate early intervention programs, and offers guidelines for evaluating alternative treatments. (Author/DB)

While there have been few reports of psychological assessment of eating disordered patients, studies using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) to assess eating disordered subjects found that female anorexics had remarkably similiar profiles (score elevations of 70 or more) to female schizophrenics on the Depression (D),…

Because diagnostic capability of the WISC-R has remained in doubt, its diagnostic suitability was assessed by applying Kelley's method of estimating the proportion of score differences in excess of chance to the original subscales, Bannatyne clusters, and Kaufman's three factor groupings. Caution should be used when applying WISC-R diagnostically.…

Reports on the status of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) from theoretical and clinical perspectives, reviewing NMR theory and relaxation parameters relevant to NMR imaging. Also reviews literature related to modern imaging strategies, signal-to-noise ratio, contrast agents, in vivo spectroscopy, spectroscopic imaging, clinical applications, and…

A six-point program of diagnostic inquiry and treatment strategy for individuals with behavior disorders in addition to severe or profound mental retardation is presented, which allows alternate etiological hypotheses to be tested in a clinical setting. This format is intended to unify psychopharmacy practice in mental retardation and in general…

An assessment procedure is described which employed television in the clinical evaluation of an unintelligible preschool child referred for speech-language evaluation. The preschooler's familiarity with and interest in television enabled the clinician to elicit an extended sample of clinical communication and linguistic skills from an otherwise…

Individuals with developmental disability (n=400) were assessed with the "Dyskinesia Identification System: Condensed User Scale" (DISCUS), a 15-item tardive dyskinesia rating scale shortened from the "Dyskinesia Identification System-Coldwater." Based on interrater reliability, 2-week stability, and other analyses, DISCUS is…

The Psychopathology Instrument for Mentally Retarded Adults was used to diagnose 163 mentally retarded institutionalized adults according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-III axis 1 categories. Nine factors were extracted which contained 49.3 percent of the data variance and categorized correctly 69.3 percent of the cases. Factors included…