Stages in developing mentally handicapped children's pretend play are outlined and techniques for assessing a child's play development are described. (SBH)

Discusses the growing use by educational psychologists and teachers of developmental and academic behavior checklists. Identifies the minimum criteria necessary for checklists and criticizes their use as many fail to meet these standards. Describes the limitations, misuse, and narrow focus of behavior checklists. (GEA)

Presented is a checklist developed by the Austin Early Childhood Special Education Program to help teachers evaluate children's classroom behavior and coping skills. It is explained that results of the checklist should provide information on such factors as possible underlying problems experienced by a student, situations in which a student…

Early childhood educators recognize the importance and validity of observing children's activities in the classroom, documenting them in an organized format, and assessing them in relation to the range of expected outcomes for children in that grade. Experienced teachers, however, know that the process of observing, documenting, and assessing…