The article critically examines 35 years of literature on group counseling with visually impaired people and points to the lack of methodologically sound research. Several methodological designs yielding interpretable results are suggested for future research. (DB)

Functional assessment is redefining the standards for clinical interventions with problem behavior and reemphasizing the importance of basic behavioral mechanisms. It has shown the importance of complex patterns of behavioral control, functional assessment as an ongoing process, and the importance of attention to antecedent variables. Future…

This study hypothesized band performance as a three-level hierarchical judgment with a basic level defined by specific terms, an intermediate level comprising a small number of interrelated factors, and a top level characterized by one overarching higher order. Results clearly confirmed three primary factors but suggested further study. (MJP)

Sixty-one examiners provided a rating of whether a significant change in performance of handicapped individuals occurred across the baseline and treatment phases of six graphs of hypothetical data from single-subject designs. Results revealed considerable interrater disagreement on four graphs, especially those involving change in variability or…

This investigation compared five parameters of phonatory function in an examination of the use of acoustic measures in differential diagnosis in 39 subjects in 3 neuropathological groups (Parkinson, Huntington, cerebellar ataxia) and a normal control group. Results indicated higher variability in perturbation in all the neuropathological groups.…

Unsophisticated raters judged speech naturalness and stuttering severity in audio-only and audiovisual presentations of speech samples. For stutterer samples, raters judged the audiovisual presentation more unnatural than the audio presentation, but for the nonstutterer samples, there was no difference. Stuttering severity ratings did not differ…

The article presents and illustrates use of an evaluation model for assessing programs for the gifted where tight experimental control is not possible. The model consists of four components: ex post factor designs including intact groups; comparative evaluation; strength of treatment; and multiple outcome assessment from flexible data sources. (DB)

This article describes a nonstandardized method used to assess the degree to which school-aged children with communication disorders are competent with the pragmatic skill of referential communication. Results with six children (ages 8-12) with communication disorders revealed that subjects possessed at least some referential communication…

The effects of using comprehensive geriatric assessment with 24 community-based elderly individuals with mental retardation/developmental disabilities were evaluated. The evaluation found significantly greater numbers of medical and dental diagnoses than were found by the subjects' previous medical evaluations. (Author/DB)

Ethnographic auditing combines concepts of ethnography, evaluation, and traditional auditing to evaluate university management. It is another tool in the institutional researcher's repertoire that enables the researcher to interpret cultural aspects of the organization to facilitate its academic mission. (MSE)

This study evaluated the ability of 30 normally developing children (ages 6-12) to report the perceived location of a stationary fused auditory image (FAI) or track a "moving" FAI. Although subjects performed at normal adult levels with the stationary sound measure, they exhibited a significant age-related trend with the moving sound…

This article argues that curriculum-based assessment and direct instruction are not models of assessment and instruction for human learning but isolated sets of measurement and control procedures. The paper advocates holistic understandings of assessment that directly emerge from human aspects of learning and teaching and from understandings of…

The study, with 79 rehabilitation therapists evaluating 21 single-subject graphs, found that the low interrater agreement often associated with visual analysis of single-subject data may be improved by simple supplements (such as trend lines) to visually inspected charts. (Author/DB)

The various arts and sciences that comprise the field of program evaluation are discussed. It is argued that emphasis on rigor and expressive content has left other aspects of evaluation unexplored. Educational evaluators need to consider what programs mean and how they contribute to understanding. (SLD)

This commentary outlines considerations in assessing (and programing for) social validity to attain results that are valued by client audiences. It discusses the objectives and contexts of several types of social validation, procedures for conducting a social validation, and questions addressed by researchers in assessing social validity. (JDD)