Discusses issues related to the identification of psychosocial interventions for children that have demonstrated efficacy. Recent debate concerning differences between clinical trials research and clinical practice is summarized, including the tradeoff between interpretability (internal validity) and generalizability (external validity) of outcome studies. This article serves as an introduction to the special issue containing articles that have as their focus the identification of empirically supported psychosocial interventions for children as part of a task force. The article provides an overview of the history, agenda, and methodology used by the task force to define and identify specific empirically supported interventions for children with specific disorders. Whereas a number of well-established or probably efficacious interventions are identified within the series, more work directed at closing the gap between research and practice is needed.

We surveyed clinical psychology internships with particular regard to current practices in training child diagnostic assessment: proportion of interns' time spent in child versus adult experiences, child assessment versus other types of child experiences, and didactic versus direct clinical experience. Information concerned the frequency of assessment experience with various age levels, types of clinical problems, and specific test instruments. We compared the responses from general clinical psychology internships with those identifying themselves as child specialty internships. The percentage of child-related experience (39%) was higher for general internships than was the percentage of adult-related experience (14%) for child specialty internships. Although there were more similarities than differences across types of programs, trainees from general internships reported significantly less experience in assessment of younger children, particularly preschool age, and both groups reported only minimal assessment experience with infants. Although moderate training experiences were reported with traditional assessment instruments, both groups reported minimal experience with the more specialized ability assessment of exceptional children. Results are discussed in the context of recently proposed guidelines for the training of clinical child psychologists.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the occurrence and severity of reading, spelling, and written language impairment in children clinically referred for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Specific questions involved 1) whether ADD subgroups with and without hyperactivity differ in reading, spelling, and written language achievement, 2) whether age and gender interact with ADD sub-group class to affect reading/written language achievement, and 3) whether prevalence of impaired reading/written language in these subgroups is consistent with previous reports in heterogeneous samples. Subjects were 115 ADD children aged 6-12 who were subclassified as ADD + H(72 percent) and ADD - H(28 percent) by objective teacher ratings. Dependent measures included tests of single word recognition and vocabulary, word attack, contextual comprehension, written spelling, written sentence construction, and writing fluency, in addition to a structured behavioral observation, during which aspects of inattention and motor activity were coded. A large fraction of this sample met public school LD criteria (54 percent), and achievement on most measures was globally poorer than the respective test normative groups. The ADD + H subgroup showed significantly poorer word attack skills, while the subgroups did not significantly differ from each other on other reading/written language measures. However, 17 percent of the total ADD sample were ≥ 1.5 SD below the mean in total reading achievement, and 29 percent were ≥ 1.5 SD below the mean on measures of written spelling/language. Gender X age interactions, indicating poorer performance in the middle age group of females, were likely related to lower IQ.

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Two aspects of the information processing involved in word recognition-encoding and memory search-were investigated in learning-disabled children. A short-term memory recognition paradigm was employed which allowed for the separation of reaction time into separate processing stages. Subjects were 16 learning-disabled children with particular deficiencies in word recognition and 16 control children equated for age, grade and intelligence. Input modalities of both stimulus array words to be encoded and stored in short-term memory, and target words for recognition were manipulated, resulting in three experimental conditions: (1) Visual/Visual, (2) Auditory/Auditory and (3) Auditory/Visual. Three hypotheses were tested each involving inferences about internal operations based on reaction time. While LD subjects did not differ from control subjects at the encoding stage of word recognition, LD subjects required significantly more processing time for memory search.A n increasing number of investigators have suggested that information processing models developed in the area of cognitive psychology may be useful in providing a more comprehensive theoretical approach to understanding learning disabilities (Farnham-Diggory, 1975;1980; Senf, 1972). Out of this work, various models of word recognition have been proposed in an effort to elucidate the complex processes believed to occur in reading (Massaro, 1975; Rumelhart, 1977). Such models typically view reading as involving a series of complex processes. Initial stages of perception and memory encoding are thought to be primarily involved in word recognition, while linguistic and semantic memory networks are believed to be involved in comprehension.Much past research in learning disabilities has focused on short-term memory operations and their relationship to reading. However, as Torgesen (1979) has pointed out, the specific role of such psychological processes as perception and memory in complex tasks such as reading is still largely unclear. Much past research into the relationship between short-term memory and reading has focused on the more global aspects of memory span and sequential memory (Torgesen, 1978). To date, sparse research attention has been devoted to studying the process of encoding sensory input into a memory representation, the nature of this internally coded information, and the process involved in accessing the memory store for retrieval. However, relevant work has demonstrated that various components of the information processing of learning-disabled subjects can be experimentally analyzed using reaction time (Morrison, Giordani & Nagy, 1977). An approach which allows for more discreet analysis of the information processing involved in word recognition should prove useful in more accurately elucidating the apparent short-term memory deficits observed in many learning disabled children. For example, some investigators have suggested that some children with specific reading disorders may have particular difficulty in encoding written symbols into an a...