The paper describes the history of the development of the special issue of the "New Outlook for the Blind" on assessment and the blind; how and why the subjects included were chosen; the general aspects of assessment that must be considered regardless of the specific aspect involved; and questions about assessment that need to be resolved. (Author)

Reflects on the discrepancies that exist between the standardized assessment of a fifth grade student and the author's own experiences with the student's language development. Shows how the student's performance in class refuted the results of a clinical evaluation. (MM)

Available from: Council for Exceptional Children, 1920 Association Drive, Reston, Virginia 22091. The article describes an "ecological" or "total" model for the assessment of learning disabled children and youth which considers the interaction of all relevant factors, including deficits or strengths within the student, teacher variables, the…

The informal arithmetic inventory, an informal diagnostic technique for use with elementary age students, indicates a child's specific weaknesses in arithmetic, such as inadequate concept development, poor computational skills, or inability to apply skills in a practical problem solving situation. (SBH)

Language assessment is reviewed as a technology which could become more effective for classroom use through school-based development and greater use of alternatives to standardized testing. (Author)

Presents the Source of Stress Inventory which was designed for use in schools and clinics as part of the intake/referral procedures for children with emotional adjustment problems. It provides a means of systematically examining the sources of psychological stress in the assessment process. (Author)

This article presents considerations for assessing sensory issues in individuals with autism spectrum disorders as a means of gathering information useful to families and professionals in understanding children and designing intervention strategies that support success across environments. Formal assessment, informal assessment, dynamic…

The effectiveness of an objective, systematic assessment and individualized programing approach for discovering new channels of learning is illustrated with case study evaluations of multiply handicapped visually impaired children with complex learning and behavioral problems. (SB)

Screening and assessment procedures are described for Head Start personnel. An initial chapter focuses on the importance of teacher observation and discusses the uses of behavior checklists. Part II presents an annotated list of 18 screening instruments with information on the developer or distributor, the age range of children to be screened,…

This article begins with the state of assessment of young children with special needs in the 1960s and traces changes through the end of the century. The embrace of multiple assessment measures, including standardized, norm-referenced measures and informal, functional measures is discussed and development of ecologically valid assessments is…

The Ekwall Reading Inventory is a set of reading passages ranging in difficulty from preprimer through ninth-grade level and contains instruments for assessing students' knowledge of letters, phonics, basic sight words, vowel rules and syllable principles, and contractions. The reading passages are designed to measure students' oral and silent…

Assessment of the adaptive behavior of public school children being considered for placement in the special education programs for the mentally handicapped in the Corpus Christi (Texas) Independent School District (CCISD) is discussed. Formal and informal assessment procedures are used, with a team of two associate school psychologists having the…

Vision assessment in multiply impaired children (ages 3-19, n=50) was studied by evaluating questionnaires completed by the psychological services responsible for determining their educational requirements. Relatively few conducted assessments of visual functioning but chose instead to determine level of visual impairment from medical,…

Recommends the use of the Group Reading Inventory (GRI), an informal survey instrument, to identify general reading abilities of individuals in correctional facilities. Discusses why the GRI is appropriate for use, guidelines for constructing a GRI, and procedures for administering, scoring, and interpreting the instrument. (NRJ)