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Journal ArticleDOI

Developmental Diagnostic Reports: Reliable and Effective Alternatives To Guide Individualized Intervention:

01 Apr 1981-Journal of Special Education (Sage PublicationsSage CA: Thousand Oaks, CA)-Vol. 15, Iss: 1, pp 65-76
TL;DR: In this article, the authors employed in-service workshops and simulated exercises with groups of early childhood teachers (N = 48) to evaluate the effective features of diagnostic reports that make them useful to teachers for individualized curriculum planning.
Abstract: With the rise of mandated services for young handicapped children, school psychologists, early educators, and parents need to combine their efforts to accurately assess and program for them. The diagnostic psychoeducational report is a vital step in the process of clearly communicating information regarding child capabilities so that individualized interventions can be designed. However, descriptive research, as well as the criticisms of parents and teachers, suggests that traditional diagnostic reports are ineffective as guides to curriculum planning. This study employed in-service workshops and simulated exercises with groups of early childhood teachers (N = 48) to evaluate the effective features of diagnostic reports that make them useful to teachers for individualized curriculum planning. Results support the advantages of using developmentally based reports to facilitate program planning. Suggestions for enhancing diagnostic reports are discussed.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a rationale, tentative definition, attributes, and role functions of the emerging profession of developmental school psychology, including assessment, program planning, family consultation, intervention, and program evaluation.
Abstract: Roles of the contemporary school psychologist include assessment, program planning, family consultation, intervention, and program evaluation. These roles take on new meaning and imperatives when applied to infant, toddler, and preschool circumstances. New legislation, incentives, programs, and assessment-treatment potentialities make the subspecialty of developmental school psychology a keystone in the interdisciplinary team committed to the identification and treatment of special needs youngsters and their families. This article offers a rationale, tentative definition, attributes, and role functions of the emerging profession. Finally, issues and trends in practice are summarized.

22 citations


Cites background from "Developmental Diagnostic Reports: R..."

  • ...School psychology applied to early childhood settings is gaining increasing prominence (Bagnato & Neisworth, 1981; Barnett, 1986; Guidubaldi, 1982; Paget, 1986). This discipline is a recent development, although specific references to such a specialization have been proposed previously. Caldwell and Elardo (1972), for example, conceptualized school psychology as having early childhood applications in both educational and noneducational settings. Coupled with this view, other specialists stressed the need for incorporating a greater developmental perspective in the broad work of school psychologists (Bardon, 1972; Kohlberg, 1972). Despite these precursors, the field of school psychology has provided no definition or detail for the preschool subspecialty. Hodges and Lapides (1977) co-edited a special issue of the Journal of School Psychology that presented broad assessment and treatment issues for the school psychologist in early education. Their work, however, did little to differentiate the specialized perspectives and practices of preschool psychology from mainstream school psychology. Bagnato and Neisworth (1981) focused upon the school psychologist's lack of preparation and experience in serving young exceptional children....

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  • ...The DSP is often a valuable ally in meeting such new demands on programs (Neisworth, Willoughby-Herb, Bagnato, Cartwright, & Laub, 1980). The strategies employed by the DSP to meet these challenging and diverse needs are consistent with those advocated by Conoley and Gut kin (1986), who stressed the necessity of using an indirect model to broaden the delivery and impact of school psychological services....

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  • ...School psychology applied to early childhood settings is gaining increasing prominence (Bagnato & Neisworth, 1981; Barnett, 1986; Guidubaldi, 1982; Paget, 1986). This discipline is a recent development, although specific references to such a specialization have been proposed previously. Caldwell and Elardo (1972), for example, conceptualized school psychology as having early childhood applications in both educational and noneducational settings. Coupled with this view, other specialists stressed the need for incorporating a greater developmental perspective in the broad work of school psychologists (Bardon, 1972; Kohlberg, 1972). Despite these precursors, the field of school psychology has provided no definition or detail for the preschool subspecialty. Hodges and Lapides (1977) co-edited a special issue of the Journal of School Psychology that presented broad assessment and treatment issues for the school psychologist in early education. Their work, however, did little to differentiate the specialized perspectives and practices of preschool psychology from mainstream school psychology. Bagnato and Neisworth (1981) focused upon the school psychologist's lack of preparation and experience in serving young exceptional children. However, they emphasized the school psychologist's potential in early intervention and the need to link developmental assessment and curriculum planning, to translate diagnostic reports, and to design, monitor, and evaluate intervention plans for young children. Guidubaldi (1982) presented the first tentative label and definition for the preschool subspeciality—" early childhood school psychology....

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  • ...The DSP is often a valuable ally in meeting such new demands on programs (Neisworth, Willoughby-Herb, Bagnato, Cartwright, & Laub, 1980)....

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  • ...School psychology applied to early childhood settings is gaining increasing prominence (Bagnato & Neisworth, 1981; Barnett, 1986; Guidubaldi, 1982; Paget, 1986). This discipline is a recent development, although specific references to such a specialization have been proposed previously. Caldwell and Elardo (1972), for example, conceptualized school psychology as having early childhood applications in both educational and noneducational settings. Coupled with this view, other specialists stressed the need for incorporating a greater developmental perspective in the broad work of school psychologists (Bardon, 1972; Kohlberg, 1972). Despite these precursors, the field of school psychology has provided no definition or detail for the preschool subspecialty. Hodges and Lapides (1977) co-edited a special issue of the Journal of School Psychology that presented broad assessment and treatment issues for the school psychologist in early education....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Bagnato and Neisworth as mentioned in this paper proposed a method to link developmental assessment and curriculum planning for young handicapped children using adaptive process methods, which can serve as ''baseline guides'' for individualized educational planning.
Abstract: Stephen J. Bagnato, Jr., D.Ed. Developmental School Psychologist Assistant Professor of Child Psychiatry Department of Psychiatry Milton S. Hershey Medical Center Pennsylvania State University Hershey, Pennsylvania THE EXPANDING interdisciplinary union of school psychologists and early intervention specialists on behalf of young handicapped children underscores the need for devising practical and reliable methods to link developmental assessment and curriculum planning (Bagnato & Neisworth, 1979, in press-a). Functional developmental assessments for young handicapped children require the use of more adaptive process methods (Dubose, Langley, & Stagg, 1979; Haeussermann, 1958). The essence of this perspective is portrayed by Chinn, Drew, and Logan (1975): \"Precision prescriptive teaching demands better performance of the evaluator, which frequently results in the criterion-referenced use of instruments that were originally developed on a norm-referenced basis'* (p. 73). Simply, assessment results should serve as \"baseline guides\" for individualized educational planning. Despite frequent calls for assessmentcurriculum linkages in preschool IEP construction (Kamii & Elliott, 1971; Chase, 1975; Bagnato & Neisworth, 1979; Bagnato, 1981),

13 citations


Cites background from "Developmental Diagnostic Reports: R..."

  • ...Moreover, when matched with developmentally sequenced curricula and used as criterion-based measures, the scales generate results that form effective "target-links" to initial curriculum goal planning (Gordon, 1975; Meier, 1976; Bagnato & Neisworth, 1979; Bagnato, 1981)....

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  • ...Despite frequent calls for assessmentcurriculum linkages in preschool IEP construction (Kamii & Elliott, 1971; Chase, 1975; Bagnato & Neisworth, 1979; Bagnato, 1981),...

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Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jun 2018
TL;DR: The authors investigated how teachers who support children with learning difficulties utilise psychologists' reports in their teaching practice and found that while the teachers valued the recommendations section of the report, they were also interested in other sections, particularly information about the student's background.
Abstract: This study investigated how teachers who support children with learning difficulties utilise psychologists’ reports in their teaching practice. Previous research has examined teachers’ preferences for how reports should be written, rather than how they might be used. Semi-structured, qualitative interviews with 12 teachers (seven primary, four high school and one preschool teacher) were undertaken and followed up with member checks and interrater reliability. Findings suggested that while the teachers valued the recommendations section of the report, they were also interested in other sections, particularly information about the student's background. Simultaneously, teachers used information from reports selectively in relation to their own professional knowledge and in collaboration with other stakeholders. Implications for practice and further research are discussed.

7 citations


Cites background or result from "Developmental Diagnostic Reports: R..."

  • ...…the translation of reports into teaching and learning practices were similar to those in previous research, such as the need for recommendations to be practical and relevant (Bagnato, 1981; Wiener, 1985), and concerns regarding the over-use of jargon and technical language (Pelco et al., 2009)....

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  • ...These findings contrast with much of the existing literature that suggests teachers have a preference for specific ather than general recommendations (Bagnato, 1981; Wiener, 1985)....

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  • ...The factors influencing the translation of reports into teaching and learning practices were similar to those in previous research, such as the need for recommendations to be practical and relevant (Bagnato, 1981; Wiener, 1985), and concerns regarding the over-use of jargon and technical language (Pelco et al....

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  • ...Overall, teachers find reports with excessive technical language and professional jargon difficult to read and understand (Bagnato, 1981; Brandt & Giebink, 1968; Pelco et al., 2009; Wiener, 1987), and dislike recommendations that are too general, impractical, or have little relevance to their day-to-day work (Bagnato, 1981; Borghese & Cole, 1994; Hagborg & Aiello-Coultier, 1994; Salvagno & Teglasi, 1987; Wiener, 1985)....

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  • ..., 2009; Wiener, 1987), and dislike recommendations that are too general, impractical, or have little relevance to their day-to-day work (Bagnato, 1981; Borghese & Cole, 1994; Hagborg & Aiello-Coultier, 1994; Salvagno & Teglasi, 1987; Wiener, 1985)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, six versions of a diagnostic report, dealing with one fictitious student, were made and asked teachers in Special Education with one of these and asked them to make several decisions on teaching this student.

5 citations

References
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Book
01 Jan 1974

491 citations


"Developmental Diagnostic Reports: R..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Broad-range discussions of methods for modifying reports have been presented elsewhere (Sattler, 1974; Tallent, 1975)....

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DOI
01 Mar 1958

81 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Lucas County Board of Education, with the financial assistance of the Ohio School Foundation Program, employed its first school psychologist and initiated a program of psychological services in the county school district.

57 citations


"Developmental Diagnostic Reports: R..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Nevertheless, teachers and other interdisciplinary personnel tend to view reports most positively when they are written in clear, behavioral terms; facilitate the decision-making process about the child; and, especially, suggest practical recommendations that can be directly translated into goals for programming (Bagnato, 1977; Baker, 1965; Brandt & Giebink, 1968; Erwin & Cannon, 1973; Hartlage & Merck, 1971; Mussman, 1964; Rucker, 1967). Erwin and Cannon (1973) have suggested that much of the difficulty with diagnostic reports involves the synthesis, organization, format, and style of how data are communicated....

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  • ...Nevertheless, teachers and other interdisciplinary personnel tend to view reports most positively when they are written in clear, behavioral terms; facilitate the decision-making process about the child; and, especially, suggest practical recommendations that can be directly translated into goals for programming (Bagnato, 1977; Baker, 1965; Brandt & Giebink, 1968; Erwin & Cannon, 1973; Hartlage & Merck, 1971; Mussman, 1964; Rucker, 1967). Erwin and Cannon (1973) have suggested that much of the difficulty with diagnostic reports involves the synthesis, organization, format, and style of how data are communicated. Moreover, Bagnato and Neisworth (1979) assert that...

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  • ...Nevertheless, teachers and other interdisciplinary personnel tend to view reports most positively when they are written in clear, behavioral terms; facilitate the decision-making process about the child; and, especially, suggest practical recommendations that can be directly translated into goals for programming (Bagnato, 1977; Baker, 1965; Brandt & Giebink, 1968; Erwin & Cannon, 1973; Hartlage & Merck, 1971; Mussman, 1964; Rucker, 1967)....

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Book
01 Jan 1976
TL;DR: A Workshop on Psychological Report Writing: How to Write Psychological Reports and How Not To as mentioned in this paper is a good starting point for a discussion of the psychological report writing process and its pitfalls.
Abstract: 1. Orientation to Psychological Report Writing. 2. The Psychological Report: Practical Focus. 3. Pitfalls in Reporting. 4. Responsibility and Effectiveness. 5. Content of the Psychological Report. 6. Conceptualizing the Psychological Report. 7. A Workshop on Psychological Report Writing: How to Write Reports and How Not To. 8. Computer-Generated Psychological Reports. 9. Psychological Reports and the Psychotherapeutic Process. 10. Psychological Reports in School Settings. 11. Forensic Psychological Evaluations. Appendix A: A Guide to Checking the Report. Appendix B: Recommended Readings. References.

42 citations