Running head: JOURNAL SUMMARY 1

Journal Summary
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Summary

In the article regarding RTI as an alternative means to identify those students who are

emotionally disturbed. Within this article it is proposed that if a student is suspected of ED that

student should be placed in an RTI program (Gresham, 2005). Once it is proven the student has

made no progress with improved behavioral issues that student will then be considered to be

tested for ED. The research consisted of students who have behavioral issues entering into a RTI

program. As the students went through the program if the program did not show any growth

behavior wise then the student would be a candidate for testing as a possible student with ED. If

the student failed to produce an adequate change it can be used as partial evidence for eligibility

as ED. It is accurate to say that if a student has a superior academic performance but suffers

from emotional issues they should still be able to be assessed to see if he or she qualifies

(Gresham, 2005).

Strengths

The major strengths of this article show that with such large popularity of students are

underdiagnosed, underserved and unserved when speaking about ED. The article goes on to say

that at one time the estimated prevalence for children that are served for ED were at 2%

(Gresham, 2005). The current estimates show that it is closer to less than 1% nationwide

(Gresham, 2005), that are currently served. This does not even touch the students that are not

being looked at for possible testing. The reason for being so underserved could be a

philosophical one. The school has often believed that they are not or should not be responsible

for student who exhibit mental health issues (Gresham, 2005). The school also believes that a

student that shows a behavior issue or conduct is ultimately responsible for their own behavior.
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Weaknesses

The biggest gap in the article is that there is no real data involved. Usually in a data there

is a specific number of participants, however in this particular article there was not one stated. I

feel like the outcome would have been better supported if there was more data involved

(Gresham, 2005). There seems to be on observable information and no numerical evidence to

support the claim that RTI can help identify students with emotional disturbance.

Implications

In this article regarding response to intervention and how it can help identify student who

may be emotionally disturbed an implication would be that the more at risk for behavior students

may need a more extensive intervention (Gresham, 2005). Students who respond inadequately

may respond better to simple interventions such as token economy (Gresham, 2005), learning

how to self-manage behavior and contract drawn up regarding their behavior. The students with

more intense behaviors may need what is called targeted or intensive interventions (Gresham,

2005). These interventions target those than may be more resistant to change.

Future Areas of Research

I would like to see more research accomplished in the area of social impact measures.

This is identified as those changes that have a larger impact on a student’s everyday life. I would

like to see more data research on the numbers involving absent days, suspensions, ISS, dropout

rate and even crime data, including arrest rates. I would also like to see if we can get more data

on the short-term interventions and their effects on the social impact measures.

Personal Observations
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A main issue that stood out to me was the number regarding underserved students with

emotional disturbance. I have seen students who exhibit some of the characteristics of

emotionally disturbed individuals but were never diagnosed (Gresham, 2005). I cannot speak to

why this person was not diagnosed but with the research in this article about response to

intervention being able to possibly identify those students is amazing to say the least. I

personally think that if we focus on RTI or at the very least allow RTI to play a part we can

identify more students with emotional disturbance and quickly place them where they need to be

to be successful in life (Gresham, 2005).

Summary

In the article about diagnosing autism spectrum disorders in pre-school children using the

ADI-R (Autism Diagnostic Interview Revised) and the ADOS (Autism Diagnostic Observation

Schedule) (Couteur, Haden, Hammal, & McConachie, 2008). The article states that combing

these two tests will yield better results. The culmination of the study shows that the two tests

agree with each other well, especially when dealing with core autism. The two tests when used

in conjunction with each other show they are complimentary and also show that when you have

multiple assessments from different sources they will aid each other in offering information not

otherwise gathered from only one source (Couteur, Haden, Hammal, & McConachie, 2008). To

make a diagnosis of autism, there has to be a multidisciplinary assessment that provides a more

in depth look at developmental history and behaviors of a student. These two tests together

provide this information. Two study samples were used. One hundred and one pre-school

students were used in this study. The assessments, the ADI-R and ADOS, was given to students

from 2 years to 4 years of age (Couteur, Haden, Hammal, & McConachie, 2008). If there was

data lacking or missing from one of the assessments the other assessment was used to fill in the
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blanks. Forty-nine students were shown to have Autism, whereas only 28 showed to have ASD

which was most likely under pervasive developmental disorder (Couteur, Haden, Hammal, &

McConachie, 2008). The remained of the study was placed in the “other” category.

Strengths

The strengths of the article regarding the ADI-R and ADOS is that these two articles have

a flattering effect on each other when seeking a diagnosis (Couteur, Haden, Hammal, &

McConachie, 2008). The level of diagnostic lucidity is on a much higher level when these two

tests are completed together. One of the findings concluded that there is a similar level of

concurrence between the instruments in pre-school students that is relayed in school aged

students diagnosed with autism (Couteur, Haden, Hammal, & McConachie, 2008).

Weaknesses

This cohort has been researched in papers prior to this article. When gathering

participants, they were enlisted to two surveys and it may be that the groups are not as indicative

of all pre-school students who are believed to have autism from neighboring inhabitants

(Couteur, Haden, Hammal, & McConachie, 2008). One group could be more economically

stable in comparison to the other group (Couteur, Haden, Hammal, & McConachie, 2008).

Implications

When used together the ADI-R and ADOS can gather clinically relevant data in a

methodical way. When professionals are trained to implement the ADI-R and ADOS they can

bring more information regarding history and behavior of a student (Couteur, Haden, Hammal, &

McConachie, 2008). If a student is on the fence and not sure if that student has autism or not,
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then the ADI-R and ADOS together can bridge that gap. It allows a person to look at multiple

areas to make a better diagnosis (Couteur, Haden, Hammal, & McConachie, 2008) .

Future Area of Research

A future area of research would be to see if any other assessments would work well in

conjunction with each other. I would also like to discover whether any assessments would better

or worse for students who are considered higher functioning or lower functioning. I know that

there are assessments that OT, PT, Speech pathologist use to make determinations and I am

curious to know if any of these assessments can be given and be complimentary to other

assessments in the same way the ADI-R and ADOS are toward each other. Along the lines of the

ADI-R and the ADOS being used jointly with the assessment of autism, there could be

assessments that can be used jointly to assess other disabilities. These assessments would bring

out the best data to make an informed decision and not just guessing.

Personal Observations

There is a concern reported in the article that all the pre-school students suspected of

autism were not represented in the study groups (Couteur, Haden, Hammal, & McConachie,

2008). As we know, autism affects many different cultures. Autism spectrum disorder leeched

into the lives of Hispanics, African Americans, Caucasian, male, female and all aspects (Couteur,

Haden, Hammal, & McConachie, 2008). This includes the economically disadvantaged and the

economically stable populations. In a study it needs to be shown that the assessment is given

with validity, reliability and fidelity to maintain that the best results are attained. It is so hard to

include each affected people but if it is not done this way then the study is not accurate in its
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findings and should be deemed invalid (Couteur, Haden, Hammal, & McConachie, 2008). If the

populations were accurately represented, then the findings of the research should be valid.
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References

Le Couteur, A., Haden, G., Hammal, D., & McConachie, H. (2008). Diagnosing Autism

Spectrum Disorders in Pre-school Children Using Two Standardized Assessment

Instruments: The ADI-R and the ADOS. Journal of Autism & Developmental

Disorders, 38(2), 362–372. https://doi-org.libproxy.lamar.edu/10.1007/s10803-007-0403-

Frank M. Gresham. (2005). Response to Intervention: An Alternative Means of Identifying

Students as Emotionally Disturbed. Education and Treatment of Children, 28(4), 328.

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