Current assessment techniques for children with learning disabilities (LD) and emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) are typically focused on identifying deficits. In this study we investigated the use of an alternative strength-based perspective, using the Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale (BERS). Results showed that the BERS discriminated among students with LD and EBD and those who were nondisabled. The use of the BERS improved significantly over chance in classifying students with EBD and nondisabled students, but not in classifying students with LD. This suggests that the BERS may be useful in the EBD assessment process. Implications for future research are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Achenbach, T.M. (1991a). Manual for the child behavior checklist/4-18 and 1991 profile. Burlington: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.
2.
Achenbach, T.M. (1991b). Manual for the teacher's report form and 1991 profile. Burlington: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.
3.
Bird, K.D., & Hadzi-Pavlovic, D. (1983). Simultaneous test procedures and the choice of test statistic in MANOVA. Psychological Bulletin,93, 167-168.
4.
Bray, J.H., & Maxwell, S.E. (1982). Analyzing and interpreting significant MANOVAs . Review of Educational Research, 52, 340-367.
5.
Costenbader, V.K., & Keller, H.R. (1990). Behavioral ratings of emotionally handicapped, learning disabled, and nonreferred children: Scale and source consistency . Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 8, 485-496.
6.
Cullinan, D., & Epstein, M.H. (1985). Adjustment problems of mildly handicapped and nonhandicapped students. Remedial and Special Education, 6, 5-11.
7.
Duncan, B., Forness, S.R., & Hartsough, C. (1995). Students identified as seriously emotionally disturbed in day treatment: Cognitive, psychiatric, and special education characteristics . Behavioral Disorders, 20, 221-237.
8.
Dunst, C. J., Trivette, C. M., & Deal, A. G. (Eds.). (1994). Supporting and strengthening families: Methods, strategies, and practice (Vol. 1). Cam-bridge, MA: Brookline Books.
9.
Epstein, M.H. (1999). The development and validation of a scale to assess the emotional and behavioral strengths of children and adolescents. Remedial and Special Education, 20, 258-262.
10.
Epstein, M.H., Harniss, M.K., Pearson, N., & Ryser, G. (1999). The behavioral and emotional rating scale: Test-retest and inter-rater reliability. Journal of Child and Family Studies , 8, 319-327.
11.
Epstein, M.H., Hertzog, M.A., & Reid, R. (in press). The behavioral and emotional rating scale: Long term test-retest reliability. Behavioral Disorders.
12.
Epstein, M.H., & Sharma, J. (1998). Behavioral and emotional rating scale: A strength-based approach to assessment. Austin, TX: PRO-ED.
13.
Everitt, B.S. (1979). A Monte Carlo investigation of the robustness of Hotelling's one and two sample T2 tests. Journal of the American Statistical Association,74, 48-51.
14.
Fessler, M.A., Rosenberg, M.S., & Rosenberg, L.A. (1991). Concomitant learning disabilities and learning problems among students with behavioral/emotional disorders. Behavioral Disorders, 16, 97-106.
15.
Friedman, K.A., Leone, P., & Friedman, P. (1999). Strengths-based assessment of children with SED: Consistency of reporting by teachers and parents. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 8, 169-180.
16.
Harniss, M.K., Epstein, M.H., Ryser, G., & Pearson, N. (1999). The behavioral and emotional rating scale: Convergent validity. Journal ofPsychological Assessment, 17, 4-14.
17.
Harris, J.C., King, S.L., Reifler, J.P., & Rosenberg, L.A. (1984). Emotional and learning disorders in 6-12-year-old boys attending special schools. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 23, 431-437.
18.
Hays, W.L. (1994). Statistics (5th ed.). Ft. Worth, TX: Harcourt.
19.
Hopkins, J.W., & Clay, P.P.F. (1963). Some empirical distributions of bivariate T2 and homoscedasticity criterion M under unequal variance and leptokurtosis. Journal of the American Statistical Association,58, 1048-1053.
20.
Huberty, C.J. (1984). Issues in the use and interpretation of discriminant analysis. Psychological Bulletin,95(1), 156-171.
21.
Kauffman, J.M. (1997). Characteristics of emotional and behavioral disorders of children and youth (6th ed.). Columbus, OH: Merrill-Prentice Hall.
22.
Kazdin, A.E. (1995). Conduct disorders in childhood and adolescence (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA : Sage.
23.
Lachenbruch, P.A. (1967). An almost unbiased method of obtaining confidence intervals for the probability of misclassification in discriminant analysis . Biometrics, 23, 639-645.
24.
Lopez, M., Forness, S.R., MacMillan, D.L., Bocian, K.M., & Gresham, F.M. (1996). Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and emotional or behavioral disorders in primary grades: Inappropriate placement in the learning disability category. Education and Treatment of Children, 19, 286-299.
25.
Luebke, J., Epstein, M.H., & Cullinan, D. (1989). Comparison of teacher-rated achievement levels of behaviorally disordered, learning disabled, and nonhandicapped adolescents . Behavioral Disorders, 15, 1-8
26.
Maradia, K.V. (1971). The effect of non-normality and robustness to non-normality in the linear model on some multivariate tests. Biometrika, 58, 105-121.
27.
McConaughy, S.H., Mattison, R.E., & Peterson, R.L. (1994). Behavioral/emotional problems of children with serious emotional disturbances and learning disabilities . School Psychology Review, 23, 81-98.
28.
Mercer, C. (1997). Students with learning disabilities (5th ed.). Columbus, OH: Merrill.
29.
Nelson, C.M., & Pearson, C.A. (1991). Integrating services for children and youth with behavioral disorders. Reston, VA: Council for Exceptional Children.
30.
Olson, C.L. (1973). Comparative robustness of six tests in multivariate analysis of variance. Journal of the American Statistical Association,69, 894-908.
31.
Quay, H.C., & Peterson, D. (1979). Manual for the behavior problem check-list. Unpublished manuscript, University of Miami.
32.
Rock, E.E., Fessler, M.A., & Church, R.P. (1997). The concomitance of learning disabilities and emotional/behavioral disorders. Journal of Learning Disabilities , 30, 245-263.
33.
Saleeby, D. (Ed.). (1992). The strengths perspective in social work practice. New York : Longman.
Scruggs, T.E., & Mastropieri, M.A. (1986). Academic characteristics of behaviorally disordered and learning disabled students. Behavioral Disorders, 11, 184-190.
36.
Stevens, J. (1996). Applied multivariate statistics for the social sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum .
37.
Swanson, H.L., & Malone, S. (1992). Social skills and learning disabilities: A meta-analysis . School Psychology Review, 21, 427-443.
38.
VanDenBerg, J.E., & Grealish, E.M. (1996). Individualized services and supports through the wraparound process: Philosophy and procedures. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 5, 7-22.
