General School Population Research Articles

Teacher ratings of social competence and behavioral adjustment: Differences between learning-disabled, low-achieving, and typical students

The social-behavioral competencies of learning-disabled (LD) students were compared with those of low-achieving and typical students. Three groups of 40 elementary age students from each of these categories were rated by their regular classroom teachers using the Walker-McConnell Scale of Social Competence and School Adjustment. The groups of learning-disabled and low-achieving students were both rated as having significantly lower levels of social competence and behavioral adjustment than the group of typical students from the general school population, but there were no significant differences in ratings between these first two groups. The present findings support the notion that social skills deficits constitute an important characteristic for much of the LD population. However, it is unclear whether social-behavior deficits constitute a characteristic that differentiates LD students from nonhandicapped students who are also low in academic achievement. The relationship between social-behavioral problems and academic achievement level is explored, and problems in selecting students for social skills training programs are discussed.

Validation of the reasons for living inventory in general and delinquent adolescent samples.

Two studies are reported that discuss the validation of an adult suicide prediction questionnaire for use with adolescents. The Reasons for Living Inventory (RFL; Linehan, Goodstein, Nielsen, & Chiles, 1983) was slightly modified and administered to two samples of adolescents: one from a general high school population and one from a population of juvenile delinquents receiving psychological treatment in a correctional facility. As with adults, adolescents who reported more reasons for staying alive were less apt to report past or recent suicidal thoughts or behaviors. Evidence of convergent validity emerged via correlations of RFL subscales with depression, hopelessness, and other suicide inventories. Evidence of discriminant validity emerged in that correlations with social desirability were not large. Evidence of construct validity emerged in that the RFL subscales related to suicidal thoughts and behaviors over and above depression and hopelessness. Differences between general and delinquent adolescents' reasons for living are discussed.

Correlates of the Underrepresentation of Black Students in Classes for Gifted Students

For decades, educators have been concerned with identifying and educating gifted students from culturally different and culturally disadvantaged backgrounds.' The importance of this concern has been reaffirmed by the assertion that, to maintain its position as an economic power, the United States must change from a laborintensive economy to a technologically based one. Such a shift will require maximizing the achievement levels realized by all students including those gifted students who are culturally different and disadvantaged.2 Yet, despite this need, Black students remain underrepresented in classes for gifted students. Data reported for the state of Florida in 1980 has shown that while Blacks constituted 22 percent of the general public school population, they accounted for only 4 percent of the students enrolled in gifted classes. Data collected in 1987 has substantiated the conclusion that Blacks continue to be underrepresented in gifted classes in Florida schools at about the same

Risk status of adolescent children of problem‐drinking parents

These studies assessed the risk status of children of untreated alcoholics. In Study 1, a cross-sectional survey of 208 high school students identified 18% as having serious concern about their parents' drinking. In Study 2, 32 children of problem-drinking parents and 39 others who participated in self-help groups were surveyed. Children of problem-drinking parents were more at risk of depression, low self-esteem, and heavy drinking than their peers in the general high school population. Within self-help groups, however, children's symptomatology was not related to their parents' drinking status. The results support the need for preventive intervention for children of problem-drinking parents and for developing strategies for improving the participation rate of such children in the intervention programs that are available.

Hair-aluminum concentrations and children’s classroom behavior

The study investigated the relationship between children's hair-Al concentrations and children's behavioral performance in school. Hair-Al levels of 102 children drawn from a general school population were correlated with teachers' ratings of the children on the Walker Problem Behavior Identification Checklist (WPBIC). Increasing hair-Al values correlated significantly with increased scores on the WPBIC total scale score. A continuing reexamination of Al exposure in the young is needed in order to determine the margin of safety regarding potentially toxic levels of Al.

Classroom Performance and Social Factors of Children With Birth Weights of 1,250 Grams or Less: Follow-up at 5 to 8 Years of Age

Of 43 long-term survivors with birth weights of 1,250 g or less, 33 were compared with peers and school-aged siblings for educational levels and needs. Of the 33 children in school, three (9.1%) were in classes for children with major handicaps, whereas 30 (90.9%) were found to be comparable to their classmates by teachers and/or test scores, but 14 (47%) were receiving remedial instruction to perform at grade level. Of 13 children with school-aged siblings, three required more hours of assistance by specialized teaching staff than their siblings. The group without the need for specialized teaching staff had older mothers and tended to reside in higher socioeconomic households. Overall, our children with birth weights of 1,250 g or less (51.5%) required more special education efforts than the general school population (24.1%), thereby enabling most to compare favorably with their peers.

Minority Overrepresentation in Special Education:

Minority overrepresentation refers to the recurrent finding that many more minority students are being served in special education programs for the mildly handicapped than would be expected based solely upon their representation in the general school population. Such findings have frequently touched off heated and seemingly endless debates in the professional literature regarding the cause(s) of this phenomenon and have more often than not resulted in recommendations calling for additions, deletions, or modifications to existing psychoeducational assessment practices. For the most part, these recommended changes reflect only cosmetic solutions to a conceptually-deficient assessment model. This model assumes that academic failure is primarily the result of inherent problems within the learner and proceeds to search for pathology through the routine administration of standard test batteries. This article suggests that many academic difficulties may be directly attributable to deficiencies in students' learning environments, and suggests procedures for examining and ruling out such possibilities before beginning a comprehensive evaluation of the learner. A functional assessment perspective is proposed and potential roadblocks to implementation are discussed.

CLASSROOM PERFORMANCE, HEALTH, SOCIAL FACTORS OF VERY LOW BIRTH WEIGHT (VLBW) CHILDREN: FOLLOW-UP AT 5–8 YEARS

Increasing survival of VLBW infants causes concern for long term health and educational needs. This study was designed to locate VLBW children at school age, to compare educational services they required with peers and term siblings and to review computerized data of the hospital course. Parental, educational and medical information was obtained from questionnaires, interviews and clinic or field visits. Of 43 neonates weighing ≤1250g (±SEM =1076g±19.2) admitted for intensive care from 1974-1978 and surviving to school age, 7 were lost to follow-up and 3 have yet to attend school. Of the 33 VLBW children in school, 3(9.1%) were in classes for the major handicapped while 30(90.9%) were found comparable to their classmates by teachers or test scores; however, 14/30 (47%) required remedial instruction to perform at grade level. Major medical problems included seizures, spastic diplegia and visual or hearing loss. Of 13 VLBW children with siblings in school, 3 required more specialized staff than their siblings. The group without the need for specialized teaching staff had older maternal ages (±SEM=24.7yrs±1.28 vs 21.7±0.74,p<0.05, t-test) and tended to reside in higher socioeconomic households by Hollingshead Index (p<0.10,X2) which may have resulted in more stimulation at home. The VLBW children had a greater proportion (17/33, 51.5%) requiring specialized instruction than the general school population (24%, p<0.001,X2), although with this instruction most compared favorably with classmates.

Public residential schools for deaf students in the United States, 1970-1978.

Enrollment reported by 62 public residential schools to the Annual Survey of Hearing Impaired Children and Youth between 1970-71 and 1978-79 is examined nationally and in four distinct regions of the country and is compared to enrollment patterns in the general school population during the same period. Also discussed here are ethnic background, handicapping conditions in addition to the hearing impairment, and age of the students in these schools for the same period.

The emotionally disturbed deaf child: A first program of research and therapy

Psychiatric interest in the deaf was born only 20 years ago (Altshuler, 1971; Rainer et al., 1969), and systematic observations, over time, of emotionally disturbed deaf children are still virtually nonexistent.’ Of the population at large, one in a thousand has profound early deafness and among the school-aged deaf, close to a third have additional handicaps that interfere significantly with their classroom progress (only 510% in the general school population have such difficulties) (Jensema and Trybus, 1975; Meadow and Schlesinger, 1971; Schein and Delk, 1974). Professional meetings of those who work in deafness repeatedly issue strident calls for help with these children, but there is at this point in time no facility in the entire country geared to meet their special needs: the multiple problems of communicative handicap, emotional disturbance, and other handicapping conditions associated with the deafness causing agent (Altshuler, 1975; U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, 1968). It was this situation that led us to mount the pilot program to be described. New York State has pioneered in the provision of mental health services for the deaf since 1955. By early 1975, the Department of Mental Hygiene had, for several years, a well-established, state-wide inand outpatient treatment unit, which also included halfway house and rehabilitation services and a preventive and consultative service at a school for the deaf (Rainer and Altshuler, 197 1). At that time, Dr. John Rainer and ourselves from the Deafness Unit and Kendall Litchfield, Dr. David Spidal, and staff of the New York School for the Deal joined forces to plan and then to form two special classes for severely disturbed children. These classes began in September of 1975. Each consisted of five students, almost all residential, with one group in the age range of 4 to 6 and the other 7 to 10. The school also provided each class with a teacher and a teacher’s

Self-esteem and school performance

Self-esteem was found to have a moderate relationship with, but not a strong independent effect on, school achievement and behavior for a sample of 530 twelve-year-olds. From multiple correlation coefficients predicting school outcomes from measures of socioeconomic status, IQ, and self-esteem, it was concluded that much of the relationship between self-esteem and school performance for the general school population can best be explained as reflecting common underlying factors such as ability and background.

Comparative assessment of a coping model for school adolescents

Four brief, interpersonal coping courses were conducted in a junior high school setting for early adolescent students who volunteered for the experience. Two of the classes (N=24) consisted of students who regularly utilized school guidance personnel; the remaining two classes (N=19) consisted of adolescents from the general school population. Course objectives included higher self-esteem and increased ability to perceive, interpret, and express nonverbal communication and feeling. Session tape recordings provided verbal data for analysis by the Hill Interaction Matrix (HIM) procedure. Results showed that the intervention had significant impact on students' patterns of interaction: interactions were fewer, but longer; conventional interactions decreased, while speculative ones increased; and personal and relationship content increased. Generally, the two class types exhibited similar patterns and changes, although some specific differences were detected. Social class background, stressful life events, and the intensity of the problems experienced by the two types of student were postulated as the sources of this variability. When coupled with ancillary postcourse data, these results support the conclusion that students' interpersonal coping skills were improved by the experience.

The gifted: Are they being slighted?

James J. Gallagher states that gifted students fall into the following groups: (1) academically talented, which includes the 15 to 20 percent of the general school population with IQ's of 116+; (2) gifted, which includes the 2 to 4 percent of the general school population with IQ's of 132+; and (3) highly gifted, which includes 0.1 percent of the general population or about 1 child in 1,000 with an IQ of 148+.2 Numerous other definitions could be cited, but they generally have approximately the same meaning as Good's and Gallagher's definitions. Even though gifted can be defined, and the students who have the characteristics of being gifted can be identified, they have been and are still being neglected today. The neglect of them is common throughout the United States. The problem of adequately educating the gifted has been ever present. In colonial days individual differences were not recognized. Each man was believed to be as able as another, and this doctrine is strong even today. Sometimes the brighter students tutored the slower ones, or they were chosen to lead extracurricular activities. However, no special attention was given to them. Between 1870 and the 1900's St. Louis and New York experimented with allowing brighter pupils to finish work at a faster pace and graduate earlier. Also, there was

Bilingual Education in BIA Schools

Because of a persistent lack of success in enabling Indian students to equal the academic achievement of the general school population, the Bureau of Indian Affairs is taking a close look at bilingual programs and related research as a possible answer to retardation among their nonEnglish-speaking students. In this paper a brief survey of the history of bilingualism in the Bureau is presented which includes the program to promote native-tongue literacy, begun in the late 30's, and the Navajo Five-Year Program. Present day programs, such as those at the Rough Rock and Rock Point Schools, bilingual materials development, and projected projects, including a Navajo bilingual kindergarten program and a reading study similar to that carried out in Mexico by Nancy Modiano, are described.

CONTROLLED TREATMENT TRIALS OF TRACHOMA IN AMERICAN INDIAN CHILDREN

The effect of topical applications of tetracycline and the administration by mouth of sulphafurazole (sulfisoxazole) was compared, in a double-blind trial, with that of placebos in a group of American Indian children with chronic trachoma. In this population, bacterial conjunctivitis is uncommon and trachoma seldom leads to blindness. During the trials and for 6 months thereafter, the children lived in a boarding-school under good hygienic conditions. In both groups—the children who received treatment and those who were given placebos—the incidence of signs of active trachoma diminished greatly during the 7 months of observation. Judged by the number of positive findings of immunofluorescence of conjunctival smears, however, the persistence of the ætiological agent remained unchanged. Eye-drops of 1% tetracycline hydrochloride in oil three times daily for 6 weeks, or a suspension of sulphafurazole 4 g. daily for 3 weeks by mouth was not demonstrably superior to the administration of placebo. The good environment seemed to be the overriding beneficial influence. In any 1 year, only 10% of the general school population (many of whom had scars of old trachoma) showed signs of trachomatous activity. Some of the reported benefits of chemotherapy in areas of endemic trachoma may be attributable to control of bacterial superinfection. Additional trials are urgently needed to define the potential usefulness of chemotherapy in the control of trachoma.

Lateral Dominance and Reading Achievement in the Second Grade

them will tend to approach a word from the wrong direction. Monroe (1932) suggested that in moving the eyes to the right, as is required in reading, the left field of vision is obstructed by the bridge of the nose, and consequently the development of left-to-right eye movements may be more difficult for the left-eyed child. She also suggested that a child who has opposite eye-hand dominance may prefer different directional movements for eye and hand, and therefore find the complex hand-eye coordinations necessary in space perception difficult. Harris (1957) found mixed hand preference much more common in a clinical group of disabled readers than in the general school population. He suggested that this lack of consistent hand preference may be the result of a special maturational difficulty or slowness. Balow (1963), working with 302 first-grade children, studied the effect on three measures of reading achievement of these various types and degrees of hand and eye dominance, singly and in interaction: strong, moderate, and mixed hand dominance; normal, crossed, and mixed dominance; and directional confusion. He reasoned that if these characteristics are associated with reading disability, they are also associated with reading achievement in the first grade. Yet, he found no combination of hand dominance and eye dominance, hand-eye dominance and knowledge of right and left, or strength of dominance and knowledge of right and left significantly associated with reading achievement. The problem considered in this study is whether the dominance anomalies specified by Dearborn, Harris, and Monroe are significantly associated with reading achievement in the second grade.

Tuberculous infection in East London school children

Summary Between 1953 and 1957, 3,180 London school children aged 5 to 16 were tuberculin tested, using the Mantoux 10 TU or Heaf tests. Five hundred and eighty-six were positive and 2,594 negative. One hundred and fifty-two of the positive children had been vaccinated with BCG. Tests were carried out at fourteen schools. At ten there was a possible source of infection known; at four there was none. The number of reactors was little if at all influenced by the reasons for which testing was undertaken, and the results obtained were close to those of the general school population. One case of clinical tuberculosis was discovered at the original survey. Two of the 434 originally positive children (omitting those positive after BCG), and 3 of the 2,594 originally negative children are known to have developed clinical disease in the variable period since the tests were done. Five of the 6 children with clinical disease were over 11 at the time of its discovery. Sources of infection, tuberculin sensitivity and intrathoracic calcification were investigated more fully in 154 children. Sources of infection were apparent for 41. Nineteen were within the household and 22 outside the household. Calcification and a source of infection were much more commonly found with high tuberculin sensitivity than with low. When a source of infection was apparent the incidence of calcification was twice that when it was not.