Counseling Child Sexual Abuse Victims: Myths and Realities

The goal of the authors is to (a) create an awareness among counselors about the nature and prevalence of child sexual abuse, (b) examine myths and realities about the topic, and (c) present recommendations for interviewing suspected victims of child sexual abuse.     

Two and One-Half Decades of Leadership in Measurement and Evaluation

This article explores the role of professional organizations, such as the American Association for Counseling and Development's (AACD) Association for Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development (AMECD) division, and the possible futures of such groups. It is suggested that AMECD and similar groups are experiencing a similar set of social and professional pressures. Aspects of the missions of creating and disseminating measurement and evaluation expertise are discussed. It is suggested that the explosion in knowledge has created new tensions involving special challenges for members of AMECD and related groups. Nevertheless, some remarkable recent accomplishments can be readily identified, and are noted here.     

Reading Disability: A Model for the Genetic Analysis of Complex Behavioral Disorders

Family, linkage, and twin studies of reading disability are briefly reviewed, and evidence is presented from the twin component of the Colorado Reading Project that implicates genetic factors in the expression of reading disability. Recently developed behavioral genetic methodology is outlined, which provides an estimate of the magnitude of these genetic effects. The present report details the application of this methodology to reading performance data obtained from 96 identical twin pairs and 72 fraternal twin pairs in which at least one member of each pair was identified as reading disabled. Results indicate that approximately 50% of the reading deficit observed in the probands may be attributed to genetic factors. Although such an analysis assumes that reading disability is a homogeneous disorder, there may exist alternative forms with differing genetic etiologies. To test this hypothesis, the methodology can be extended to assess differential genetic etiology in alternative subgroups of disabled readers.