M.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / In every classroom there are probably pupils with learning problems. If these children can be identified before they fail and appropriate assistance can be provided at that stage, learning failure can be prevented or curbed. This study was undertaken against the background of growing dissatisfaction with the current systems of remedial provision to a relatively limited number of pupils after learning problems have manifested and the prognostic outcome seems accordingly bleak, A study of the literature was undertaken to gain a perspective on the nature and extent of the current practices of identification, evaluation and remedial assistance as well as the sensibility of the implementation of a more preventive child guidance practice. Although prevention is the obvious answer in the fight against learning problems, a study of the relevant literature revealed that the accent within the field still lies on remediation after the manifestation of learning problems and scholastic underachievement - and not prevention. Intensive and time-consuming evaluation, diagnosis and subsequent categorization (according to certain definitions of so-called "remedial pupils"), deprive many pupils with learning problems of assistance. This is still to a great extent the reigning policy of the education departments in Southern Africa. Less than 5% of all pupils receive remedial help outside the regular classroom in addition to the work done in class. In the literature important changes are predicted in the remedial approach to learning problems. A pragmatic swing can be expected as more and more . experts in Southern Africa and abroad voice the opinion that it seems sensible to determine in general what a pupil can and cannot do, and then to try and stimulate what he cannot do by means of a specifically devised program. After a study of the literature to determine the sensibility of a more preventive approach to learning problems on a wider basis, a short test battery and a support program were compiled.

This study involving 43 intermediate and secondary level students with learning disabilities investigated two major areas. First, the relationship between four facets of self-concept and academic locus of control were examined. Second, the influences special education placement variables have on self-concept and locus of control were investigated. Academic self-concept, general self-concept, math self-concept and verbal self-concept were measured by the Self Description Questionnaire III. Academic locus of control was measured by the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Questionnaire; it also gives scores for internal locus of control for success and internal locus of control for failure. The special education placement variables were: age at first placement in a learning assistance centre (resource room); number of years spent in learning assistance centre; age at first placement in a self-contained special education class; number of years in a self-contained special education class; present placement (intermediate grade level or secondary grade level) and grades repeated. The data indicated that general self-concept and academic self-concept were not related. Math self-concept, verbal self-concept and academic self-concept tended to be negative and general self-concept tended to be positive. No statistically significant relationship was found between academic self-concept and internal academic locus of control. The sample tended to have negative academic self-concepts and internal academic locus of control. A positive relationship was found between general self-concept and internal academic locus of control. Internal locus of control for academic failure was positively correlated with internal locus of control for academic success. A positive relationship was found between mathematics self-concept and verbal self-concept, with the majority of students having negative self-concept in both areas. The age of first placement in a learning assistance centre and the number of years spent in the program did not influence either self-concept or locus of control. Age at first placement in a self-contained special education class did not relate to self-concept or locus of control. The number of years a child spent in a self-contained special education class was inversely related to internal academic locus of control. No differences in self-concept or locus of control were found between intermediate and secondary grade level students. An inverse relationship was found between grades repeated and internal academic locus of control. After failing only one grade, students still had an internal academic locus of control, but failing two or more usually indicated an external academic locus of control. Limitations of this study were the problems with definition of the term learning disabilities and classification for the purposes of programming. As a result of this study, it was concluded that further study of the influence special education programming has on the self-concept and locus of control of learning disabled students should be of a longitudinal or ethnographic nature. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

Bibliography: pages 287-309. / There is a need for time-efficient screening assessment, preliminary to diagnostic evaluation, in order to identify learning disability children attending schools in the Cape Flats area. This practical issue needs to be addressed despite the controversy that rages concerning the theoretical aspects of learning disability, its problematic measurement issues and the confusion of research findings in the field. Three main issues are implicated when addressing this problem: (i) the theoretical controversy pertaining to the concept of learning disability. (ii) the theoretical issues concerning measurement and test theory related to the screening and prediction of learning disability. (iii) the practical issue of the validity and accuracy of a rating scale (in this research the Pupil Rating Scale) in relation to a standardized test used as a control (in this research the Aptitude Test for School Beginners). A literature survey indicated that the controversy pertaining to the field of learning disability is largely attributable to the lack of precise definition of the concept which affects research methodology and the interpretation of results. Using a psychological-educational definition of learning disability and attempting to avoid the methodological shortcomings of previous research, the present study adopted a longitudinal predictive approach to screening pupils of the Cape Flats area. These pupils all attended schools for the population group, designated Coloured (mixed blood) in South Africa.

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This project represents a descriptive study of 35 chronically mentally ill (CMI) adults enrolled in a community-based vocational rehabilitation program during the 1981 calendar year. As part of their first month in the program, subjects were administered a screening battery consisting of the Trail Making Test, Reitan-Indiana Aphasia Screening Test, Reitan-Klove Sensory Perceptual Examination, Valpar Independent Problem Solving Work Sample (IPSWS) and Wide Range Interest Opinion Test (WRIOT). Correlations were derived among these and with other variables, including the Work Adjustment Rating Form, schizophrenic versus nonschizophrenic psychiatric diagnosis, time in program and period of competitive employment resulting from program involvement. The issue of medication and its potential for impacting on subjects' performance in the program was also addressed. The neuropsychological measures in the battery were significantly correlated among themselves and discriminated between schizophrenic and nonschizophrenic CMI subjects in the sample with 100% accuracy. However, results on neuropsychological tests did not predict whether or not a subject would realize competitive employment during the year of the study. Both schizophrenic and nonschizophrenic subjects produced average performances in the impaired range of functioning according to published criteria for the neuropsychological instruments, although schizophrenic subjects consistently performed closer to the normal population. Vocational instruments included in the battery appeared to measure a more heterogeneous set of functions than the neuropsychological tests, and did not appear to represent a vocational factor. Two scores from these vocational instruments, Valpar IPSWS and WRIOT Negative Bias, were combined with Trail Making Test (Part A) scores in a discriminant function that classified subjects with 81% accuracy on attainment of competitive employment status. Over half (56%) of the people who participated for three months or more experienced some competitive employment, and 39% of those who completed three months or more were able to maintain full-time or part-time competitive employment for longer than 60 days. These results supported the effectiveness of Fountain House Model programs in achieving vocational rehabilitation goals with the difficult CMI population. Support was also provided for community-based research to study both social programs and their clientele.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among the various scales of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised. Of particular interest was the degree to which the Wechsler Verbal and Performance IQ's contributed to the prediction of the K-ABC Mental Processing Composite and the K-ABC Achievement score respectively.The subjects were 51 students, aged 8-0 to 12-0, who had been referred for psychoeducational assessment because of suspected learning disabilities. They were evaluated with both the K-ABC and the WISC-R as part of a standard battery.Descriptive statistics and univariate correlations were computed. Multiple regression procedures revealed that significant relationships existed between the composite of predictor variables, the Wechsler Verbal and Performance IQ's, and the criterion variables, the K-ABC Mental Processing Composite and the K-ABC Achievement score when each was considered separately.Stepwise multiple regression procedures indicated that the unique contribution of the Wechsler Verbal IQ to the prediction of the K-ABC Mental Processing Composite was statistically significant. A significant relationship was not found, however, between the Performance IQ and the K-ABC Achievement score when the Verbal IQ had been statistically controlled.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the relationship between a kindergarten screening battery (KSB) and two criterion variables (academic achievement and educational placement) varied as a function of race. The subjects were 702 elementary school students, approximately 176 per grade, in kindergarten, first, third, and fourth grade. Approximately 45 students per grade were American Indian, with the remainder Caucasian.Multiple regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between the KSB, race, and its interaction with each criterion variable. The predictor variables were the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R), the Kindergarten Language Screening Test (KLST), the Developmental Visual-Motor Integration Test (VMI), the Draw-A-Child (DAC), race, and the four race x KSB test vectors. Criterion variables were the Stanford Achievement Test (SAT) total battery, and educational placement (special education vs. regular education status).The KSB predictor variables were entered into the multiple regression equations as a block. Race was then entered as a coded group vector, followed by the four race x KSB test interaction vectors. The increment in R2 due uniquely to the interaction was nonsignificant (slopes were homogeneous) in all analyses. Both the effects of race and the KSB were significant for all grades with achievement as the criterion (p < .01).Bias in predicting educational placement was tested using all subjects combined. Both the interaction and race effects were nonsignificant. The main effect of the KSB was significant (p < .01). An improvement over chance analysis showed that the KSB increased predictive accuracy of the at-risk determination over chance.The weighted composites which best predicted achievement consisted primarily of the language instrument, the PPVT-R, and race. The two psychomotor tests (the DAC and VMI) contributed useful information at the two earlier grades. The composite which best predicted educational placement was made up primarily of the expressive language measure, the KLST.Results of the study supported continued use of the KSB. However, race should be used as a variable when predicting achievement from the KSB, so as not to overpredict American Indian achievement or underpredict Caucasian achievement. Results also indicated the potential utility of early language enrichment for improving achievement of high risk children. / Department of Educational Psychology

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The purposes of this study were to compare the consistency of assessment between (1) a team of evaluators composed of personnel from a visiting state school; (2) the home team of evaluators and similar data, currently available for the subjects; (3) the visiting team of evaluators and similar data, currently available for the subjects; and (k) specific professional members of the team of evaluators from the home school personnel and the similar professional members from the visiting school personnel. The study concluded the following: 1. The general reliability of the Modified Behavioral Characteristics Progression for two sets of raters was acceptable. 2. Visiting teams consistently rated the subjects more skilled than either the computer data, or home team data. 3. The data suggest that the behaviors are not in a, linear or developmental sequence. The reliability of the computerized data appears to be weaker than the other two sources.