New Views on Measurement Issues

Edited by G. Reid Lyon, Ph.D.

Researchers and educators are well aware of the pressing need for guidelines in measuring learning disabilities and of the difficulty in finding a resource that offers in-depth analysis of assessment issues. This book provides a comprehensive discussion of research and progressive measurement strategies. Unique in its broad scope, this essential reference examines assessment tools as they relate to a wide range of learning disabilities, including disabilities that affect:

• attention
• executive function
• linguistics and reading
• mathematics
• written language expression
• spelling
• social competence
• cognitive abilities

The book also establishes a framework for systematic measurement by identifying five decision points that enable evaluators to focus on the learning areas that are most crucial, and most difficult, for students to master.

Researchers, clinicians, educators, and students in special education, psychology, neurology, and pediatrics can turn to this resource for an authoritative examination of the issues surrounding the assessment of learning disabilities and for state-of-the-art measurement techniques.

Section I: Issues and Directions in the Measurement of Learning Disabilities

1. Critical Issues in the Measurement of Learning Disabilities
   G. Reid Lyon
   
   
2. A Matrix of Decision Points in the Measurement of Learning Disabilities
   Barbara K. Keogh

Section II: Critical Concepts in Learning Disabilities: What Are We Measuring?

3. Measurement of Change: Assessing Behavior over Time and within a Developmental Context
   David J. Francis, Sally E. Shaywitz, Karla K. Stuebing, Bennett A. Shaywitz, and Jack M. Fletcher
   
   
4. Measuring and Analyzing Change
   Bennett A. Shaywitz and Sally E. Shaywitz
   
   
5. The Assessment of Attention in Children
   Russell A. Barkley
   
   
6. Attention as a Process and as a Disorder
   Jack M. Fletcher, Bennett A. Shaywitz, and Sally E. Shaywitz
   
   
7. Measurement of Executive Function
   Martha Bridge Denckla
   
   
8. Issues in the Assessment of Executive Function: An Information-Processing Perspective
   Joseph K. Torgesen
   
   
9. Redefining Learning Disabilities: Moving Beyond Aptitude-Achievement Discrepancies to Failure to Respond to Validated Treatment Protocols
   Virginia W. Berninger and Robert D. Abbott
   
   
10. Issues in Definition and Measurement of Learning Disabilities: The Need for Early Intervention
    Jack M. Fletcher and Barbara R. Foorman

Section III: What Children Learn in School: Assessment in Specific Academic Domains

11. Measurement of Listening and Speaking
    Doris J. Johnson
    
    
12. Honing the Concepts of Listening and Speaking: A Prerequisite to the Valid Measure of Language Behavior in Children
    Louisa Cook Moats
    
    
13. Measurement of Word Recognition, Orthographic, and Phonological Skills
    Richard Olson, Helen Forsberg, Barbara Wise, and John Rack
    
    
14. Components of Reading Ability: Issues and Problems in Operationalizing Word Identification, Phonological Coding, and Orthographics Coding
    Frank R. Vellutino, Donna M. Scanlon, and Melinda S. Tanzman
    
    
15. Assessment of Spelling in Learning Disabilities Research
    Louisa Cook Moats
    
    
16. Issues in Researching the Link Between Phonological Awareness, Learning Disabilities, and Spelling
    Patricia C. Lindamood
    
    
17. Measurement of Written Language Expression
    Stephen R. Hooper, James Montgomery, Carl Swartz, Martha S. Reed, Adrian D. Sandler, Melvin D. Levine, Thomas E. Watson, and Thomas Wasileski
    
    
18. Future Directions for Research on Writing Disabilities: Integrating Endogenous and Exogenous Variables
    Virginia W. Berninger
    
    
19. Diagnosis and Assessment of Mathematics Learning Disabilites
    Jeannette E. Fleischner
    
    
20. Mathematics Assessment for Students with Learning Disabilities
    Sharon Vaughn and Cynthia Wilson

Section IV: Emerging Trends in the Measurement of Learning Disabilities

21. Neuropsychological Assessment of Children with Learning Disabilities: Measurement Issues
    Byron P. Rourke
    
    
22. Multidimensional Neuropsychological Assessment Models: Potential and Problems
    Robin Morris
    
    
23. Techniques for Measuring Social Competence in Children
    Kytia K.S. Voeller
    
    
24. The Measurement and Assessment of Social Skills
    Sharon Vaughn and Diane Haager
    
    
25. Assessment of Learning Disabilities: The Challenge of Evaluating the Cognitive Strategies and Processess Underlying Learning
    Lynn J. Meltzer
    
    
26. Strategy Assessment in Persepctive
    Louisa Cook Moats
    
    
27. A Review of Critical Concepts and Issues in the Measurement of Learning Disabilities
    Robin Morris