New procedures for assessing the behavior of children in an environmental context are available to the school psychologist. The procedures, which are sometimes called psychosituational or informal assessments, examine the influence of the external environment as setting the occasion for emotional and behavioral problems. (Author)

Creative drawings of three preschool girls were modified using reinforcement procedures. Adult judges gave higher ratings of creativity for drawings with increased form diversity but not for those with increased color diversity. The role of social validation in defining and encouraging creativity is discussed. (Author/BH)

A study of 57 certified teachers was undertaken in order to determine the individual teacher's ability to correctly judge oral reading performance. (PHR)

Evidence of biasing in judgments made by physicians was examined via individual interviews and written questionnaires from 38 university surgeons. Each surgeon estimated six quantities: his own number of major procedures during the past year, that of his specialty, and that of the entire service, as well as similar estimates for in-hospital…

Discussed are the relative merits of two currently popular models of assessing children--the ability assessment and task analysis models. (CL)

A three-stage procedure for formulating and monitoring individualized objectives for learning disabled high school students includes: (1) surveying global writing successes and failures; (2) analyzing reliable patterns of selected writing features; and (3) selecting instructional priorities through ongoing negotiation between instructors and…

School social services may seem highly bureaucratic, with staff members filling narrowly defined roles. In practice, the delivery of social services to high school students faced with pregnancy, alcoholism, divorce, suicide, and other problems is exceedingly informal. Considerable discretion and autonomy are needed to serve students with problems…

Bipolar adjective scales and bipolar graphic scales for visual ratings were validated. The study suggests a stable structure of graphic ratings of art unaffected by race or artist or viewer and art style that should prove useful in cross-cultural studies and in studies among children and the verbally impaired. (Author/RM)

For special education teachers dealing with slow learners or learning disabled students, the paper describes teacher-made diagnostic tasks and settings for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Remediation techniques and strategies for common error patterns and misunderstandings are discussed for each of the major parts of the…

To assess consistency between maternal and professional assessment of child performance, 31 mothers of disabled children (6-36 months old) participating in an intervention program completed measures of infant development, behavior, and characteristics. Maternal and staff assessments were found to be highly similar. Implications for programs are…

The author provides suggestions for teachers to assess mentally handicapped deaf-blind children with observational techniques. (IM)

Presents a quiz on science and technology for technical writing instructors to see for themselves how much information they have learned from teaching their students. (HTH)

Outlines for the beginning group counselor a method for organizing and evaluating the ongoing group experience. Defines the specific categories and describes the method by which the outline can be used. (RC)

The psychoeducational processes school diagnosticians use in decisions about students were studied. Bogus referral problem information for one of 16 "cases" was provided: assessment data indicated average performance. Fifty-two percent of the subjects recommended special education for the average child; these decisions were a function of referral…

Tells how children's performances on informal spelling and writing tasks can be analyzed to develop appropriate instructional activities. Argues that the real utility of assessment procedures comes from the qualitative interpretation that a sensitive diagnostician makes, based on a knowledge of the student and of the process of reading. (AEA)