Publications
Research and writing on accessible communication, children’s learning, and education policy.
Accessible communication and health literacy
Hite, J. (2026). Child Psychiatry & Human Development. DOI: 10.1007/s10578-026-02049-9
Does changing how psychological findings are communicated make a measurable difference? Across 14 experiments involving 1,283 readers, every comparison favored accessible formats, with a moderate-to-large overall benefit. Improvements included comprehension, recall, and readers’ ratings of clarity and usefulness. The findings support plain language, meaningful organization, and concrete examples as evidence-based parts of psychological practice. For families, educators, and clinicians, the implication is that an evaluation’s usefulness depends partly on whether its findings are communicated in ways readers can understand and use.
Hite, J. (2026). Practice Innovations. DOI: 10.1037/pri0000324
Healthcare professionals have raised remarkably similar concerns about psychological reports for more than seventy years: technical language, vague conclusions, poor organization, and excessive detail. This synthesis compares research from psychiatric settings in 1954 and 2025, alongside a larger survey of clinicians. More accessible formats received ratings about 17–18 points higher on a common 100-point scale in both periods. The persistence of these problems suggests that knowing how to communicate clearly has not been enough to change routine practice. The article calls for changes in training and supervision, with reports organized around patients’ concerns and findings explained in language that supports coordinated care.
Hite, J. (2026). Discover Public Health, 23, Article 262. DOI: 10.1186/s12982-026-01613-x
Thirty-eight parents reviewed traditional and accessible reports about fictional children and described how the information affected their understanding. Technical language, dense scores, and separate explanations of each test often left parents confused or feeling excluded from decisions. Reports using plain language, everyday examples, and findings grouped by meaningful topics helped parents understand the child’s strengths and difficulties. Parents also valued keeping detailed scores available separately without interrupting the explanation. These findings connect accessible communication with family participation and offer practical guidance for reports that help parents understand recommendations and take part in planning support.
Hite, J., & Desai, S. (2026). Communiqué, 54(8), 34–35.
Why do psychological reports remain difficult to understand despite decades of guidance? This follow-up examines how graduate training can reinforce technical complexity while giving too little attention to readers’ understanding. It brings together research supporting five STEPS practices: organize findings by meaningful topics, explain results in words, include everyday examples, reduce jargon, and use clear sentences. It also considers how AI-assisted editing can help psychologists revise language and organization while retaining responsibility for accuracy. The practical conclusion is that training examples, supervision, and report templates should make accessible communication an expected part of competent assessment.
Desai, S., & Hite, J. (2020). Communiqué, 49(3), 30.
Psychological evaluations shape important decisions about children, yet their reports can leave families unable to understand the findings or advocate for support. This article draws on decades of research showing how technical language, unclear explanations, and vague recommendations can limit parents’ participation. It proposes reports that answer the original referral questions, bring findings together around the child, and explain recommendations in understandable terms. The central argument is that accessible communication is part of an effective evaluation: families and educators need information they can use to make decisions and support a child.
Learning and assessment
Hite, J. (2026). Communiqué, 55(1), 20–22.
Effective dyslexia assessment needs to show which reading skills are difficult, what instruction is needed, and whether that instruction is helping. Reviewing decades of research, this article finds that direct measures of reading provide more useful information for screening, identification, and intervention than cognitive test profiles. Brief measures of word reading and reading fluency can identify concerns early and track progress as teaching is adjusted. The article examines why schools continue to rely on less useful assessment practices despite this evidence. It argues for earlier support and assessment that directly informs reading instruction, reducing delays between recognizing a problem and providing effective help.
Hite, J. (2026). Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. DOI: 10.1007/s40489-026-00558-w
Reading and mathematics difficulties are common in children with autism and ADHD, but cognitive test profiles offer limited guidance about how to teach them effectively. This review brings together evidence from cognitive assessment, computer modeling, brain imaging, developmental research, and academic interventions. It argues that differences in learning pace and the amount of instruction children receive offer a more useful explanation of persistent academic difficulties than presumed cognitive subtypes. The practical focus is on assessing reading and mathematics skills directly, measuring progress during instruction, and adjusting support to the child’s response. This approach helps schools and clinicians identify what a child needs to learn and how much teaching may be required.
Hite, J. (2026). AI, Brain and Child, 2, Article 11. DOI: 10.1007/s44436-026-00036-4
Slow progress in mathematics is difficult to interpret without knowing what instruction a child received and how closely the assessment matched it. This preliminary reanalysis examined 171 effect sizes from 24 intervention studies involving kindergarten through third-grade learners. Among studies limited to children at risk, more intervention time was associated with larger gains when assessments measured the skills being taught. That relationship was not detected with broader achievement measures or samples that also included children who were not at risk. The findings suggest that some apparently flat progress patterns may reflect insufficient or poorly matched instruction, making instructional time and content important to examine before concluding that a child is not responding.
Hite, J. (2026). Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 48, Article 17. DOI: 10.1007/s10862-026-10284-6
Irritability, sadness, activity level, and concentration difficulties can overlap across ADHD and mood conditions, making assessment challenging. This study combined four clinicians’ judgments about the Pediatric Behavior Rating Scale’s content with previously published clinical data from 80 children with ADHD. Depression-related scales most clearly distinguished children with additional mood problems and remained elevated after a month of treatment, even as some ADHD-related scores improved. The findings provide preliminary support for examining patterns across the scale to distinguish persistent mood concerns from ADHD-related symptoms. For clinicians, this can help identify concerns that need further investigation and prevent improvements in attention or behavior from obscuring continuing emotional difficulties.
Education policy
Hite, J., & Boulos, J. (2011). Communiqué, 40(4), 24–25.
This article describes the collaboration behind Maine’s 2011 legislation expanding school psychological services and incorporating the National Association of School Psychologists’ Practice Model into law. The changes supported a broader role in prevention, intervention, and counseling, services for younger children, and supervision for new practitioners. The authors explain how relationships with legislators, transparent goals, consistent communication, and collaboration across professional groups helped secure unanimous passage. The practical lesson is that changing policy requires both clear evidence and sustained cooperation, followed by training and support to turn legislation into better services for children.
Essay
Hite, J. (2026, February 7). Write A Catalyst, Medium.
This essay questions whether cognitive testing can reliably identify distinct learning disabilities or explain why a child struggles with reading and mathematics. Drawing on psychology, neuroscience, and intervention research, it argues for greater attention to differences in learning pace and the amount and quality of instruction children receive. It also examines the gap between schools having intervention frameworks and consistently delivering effective teaching. The proposed alternative is early screening, prompt instruction, regular progress checks, and adjustments when a child is not gaining ground. For parents and educators, the central question becomes what help is actually being provided and whether it is improving the child’s skills.
Book chapter
Best practices in promoting study skills
Codding, R. S., Harvey, V., & Hite, J. (2014). In Best Practices in School Psychology: Student-Level Services (pp. 67–82). National Association of School Psychologists.
This chapter brings together evidence-based approaches to building study skills and the executive functioning skills that help students plan, organize, and manage schoolwork. It offers practical guidance for teaching these skills and supporting their use in everyday learning.