Language Ability of Students With Emotional Disturbance: Discrepancies Between Teacher Ratings and Direct Assessment

Abstract

Language impairment often goes unidentified in students with behavioral disorders, perhaps in part because different forms of problem behavior deflect adult attention from more subtle language deficits. Therefore, attention to teachers’ perception of students’ language and behavioral performance is merited. The present study examines agreement between a norm-referenced adult rating scale of language proficiency and a standardized, comprehensive language assessment in a sample of 43 boys identified with emotional disturbance (ED). Results of this preliminary study showed low agreement between direct assessment and teacher ratings of language, and that measures of language varied relative to behavioral profiles.

Keywords

language emotional disturbance rating scales

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Achenbach

T. M.

Rescorla

L. A.

(2001). Manual for the ASEBA school-age forms and profiles. Burlington: University of Vermont.

Antoniazzi

Snow

Dickson-Swift

(2010). Teacher identification of children at risk for language impairment in the first year of school. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 12, 224–252.

Bishop

D. V.

(2006). The Children’s Communication Checklist–Second Edition. San Antonio, TX: Pearson Education.

Bradley

Doolittle

Bartolotta

(2008). Building on the data and adding to the discussion: The experiences and outcomes of students with emotional disturbance. Journal of Behavioral Education, 17, 4–23.

Carrow-Woolfolk

(1999). Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.

Chow

J. C.

Wehby

J. H.

(2016). Associations between language and behavior: A systematic review and correlational meta-analysis. Educational Psychology Review. Advance online publication. doi:10.1007/s10648-016-9385-z

Cohen

N. J.

Davine

Horodezky

Lipsett

Isaacson

(1993). Unsuspected language impairment in psychiatrically disturbed children: Prevalence and language and behavioral characteristics. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 32, 595–603.

Darney

Reinke

W. M.

Herman

K. C.

Stormont

Ialongo

N. S.

(2013). Children with co-occurring academic and behavior problems in first grade: Distal outcomes in twelfth grade. Journal of School Psychology, 51, 117–128.

Hinshaw

S. P.

(1992). Externalizing behavior problems and academic underachievement in childhood and adolescence: Causal relationships and underlying mechanisms. Psychological Bulletin, 111, 127–155. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.111.1.127

10.

Hollo

Wehby

J. H.

Oliver

R. O.

(2014). Unidentified language deficits in children with emotional and behavioral disorders: A meta-analysis. Exceptional Children, 80, 169–186. doi:10.1177/001440291408000203

11.

Institute of Education Sciences. (2016). Request for applications: Special education research grants (CFDA Number: 84.324A). Washington, DC: National Center for Special Education Research.

12.

Kettler

R. J.

Elliott

S. N.

Diperna

J. C.

Bolt

D. M.

Eriser

Resurreccion

(2014). Student and teacher ratings of academic competence: An examination of cross-informant agreement. Journal of Applied School Psychology, 30, 338–354. doi:10.1080/15377903.2014.950442

13.

Kettler

R. J.

Feeney-Kettler

K. A.

(2011). Screening systems and decision making at the preschool level: Application of a comprehensive validity framework. Psychology in the Schools, 48, 430–441.

14.

Massa

Gomes

Tartter

Wolfson

Halperin

J. M.

(2008). Concordance rates between parent and teacher clinical evaluation of language fundamentals observational rating scale. International Journal of Communication Disorders, 43, 99–110. doi:10.1080/13682820701261827

15.

Semel

E. M.

Wiig

E. H.

Secord

(2013). CELF-5: Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals–Fifth Edition. Minneapolis, MN: Pearson Assessments.

16.

Tomblin

J. B.

Zhang

Buckwalter

Catts

(2000). The association of reading disability, behavioral disorders, and language impairment among second-grade children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 41, 473–482. doi:10.1017/s002196300000559x

17.

Wagner

Newman

(2015). Longitudinal post-high school outcomes of young adults with learning disabilities or emotional/behavioral disorders. Advances in Learning and Behavioral Disabilities, 28, 31–61.

18.

Yew

S. G. K.

O’Kearney

(2013). Emotional and behavioural outcomes later in childhood and adolescence for children with specific language impairments: Meta-analyses of controlled prospective studies. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 54, 516–524. doi:10.1111/jcpp.12009