This paper presents a review of all patients with Down syndrome seen over a 5-year period by one consultant neurologist in general outpatient and specialist cognitive function clinics. It revealed only 7 cases in greater than 4500 general referrals (= 0.2%), all referred with suspected seizure disorders. The diagnosis of epilepsy was confirmed in…

Evidence-based practice (EBP) requires practitioners to identify and formulate questions in response to patient encounters, and to seek, select, and appraise applicable clinical research. A standardized workshop format serves as the model for training of medical educators in these skills. We developed an evaluation exercise to assess the ability…

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…

Used a standardized simulation to identify problem-solving styles in mental health treatment planning tasks. Experienced counselors (N=34) and trainees (N=34) examined case files and wrote summaries and treatment plans for each case. Results showed problem-solving similarities for the outpatient case but differences for the inpatient case. (BH)

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.…

Clinical histories and physical findings are presented for 2 sisters with Rett syndrome. The older sister, age 25, was typically affected, whereas the younger sister, 22 years old, was affected with a seizure disorder showing an unusually early onset. The paper discusses hypotheses in genetic causation of Rett syndrome. (JDD)

This study compared anatomical doll play of 35 young children referred for possible sexual abuse with 35 controls. Six conclusions are drawn, including the following: anatomical dolls did not create undue anxiety; sexual abuse could not be diagnosed solely on the basis of doll play; and practitioners must rely on supporting evidence when…

A survey of 35 postsecondary institutions with programs for learning-disabled students gathered information on the assessment instruments use to assess learning strengths and weaknesses and determine the presence of a specific learning disability. Results are reported, program characteristics are discussed, and suggestions for improving diagnostic…

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…

A study investigated whether physicians (n=32) would generate less specific initial diagnoses than did medical students (n=39). Analysis of number, specificity, and breadth of diagnoses found students generated significantly more diagnostic hypotheses and more specific hypotheses, but breadth did not differ significantly. (Author/MSE)

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…