Ability, Achievement, and Aptitude Tests Flashcards
Ability Tests
- Predicts future behaviour
- Measures a person’s innate ability
- e.g. Intelligence Testing
Achievement Tests
- Assessment of knowledge AFTER formal education
- Measures how much a child has learned in school compared to same-age or same-grade based norms/expextations
- May be able to prepare for an achievement test
Aptitude Tests
- Predicts FUTURE behaviour
- Measure a person’s aptitude to develop skill in a specific area
Referral Questions
We do tests to answer referral questions.
E.g., Why is my primary school-aged child getting bad grades at school?
E.g., What would be a good choice of career for my high school-aged child who will be finishing school soon?
We do NOT do ANY test, unless we have a referral question!
So, we DON’T do tests just for the sake of it!
Rapport
Before we do any test with any child, we need to build rapport with them.
If you don’t build rapport with them, they may not feel comfortable with you, which might lead to reduced performance on the test
Rapport building is different for different ages
Rapport Infant (0-3 years)
Be positive toward the child, but approach the parent first. Do not remove the child from the parent without first making them comfortable
Rapport: Preschool-aged children (4-6)
Play age-appropriate game (e.g. snakes and ladders, play dough etc)
Rapport: Primary-school aged (7-11)
Play age-appropriate game (e.g. uno, jenga, ipad)
Adolescent (12-18)
Get to know them- ask them a little bit about their lives
What does an ability test measure?
A person’s innate ability
E.g., motor skills, memory, cognitive ability
This lecture will focus on COGNITIVE ABILITY tests
1 month – 42 months
30-90 minutes for full administration
- Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development - 3rd Edition (Cognitive Scale)
- 30-90 minutes for full administration
Ages 2-7
Wechsler Scales
Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence – 4th Edition (WPPSI-IV)
30-60 mins
Ages 6-16
-Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – 5th Edition (WISC-V)
=60 minutes for core subtests
16-90 years
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – 4th Edition (WAIS-IV)
-60-90 minutes
5-21 years with speech, language or hearing difficulties or those with different cultural backgrounds
Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test – 2nd Edition (UNIT-2)
-45-60 mins for full battery administration
2-85 years
Stanford Binet
40-60 minutes
When would we use a cognitive ability test?
When we suspect there is an intellectual impairment
OR
When we want to rule out the possibility of an intellectual impairment
OR
The child is experiencing some kind of functional difficulty
RARELY: When we suspect a child may be gifted
Who administers a cognitive ability test?
In Australia, registered psychologists
No one else should be administering intelligence tests
However, in QLD, guidance officers (who may not be psychologists) administer the WPPSI-IV and WISC-V
Administering the WISC- V
- Standardised instructions and responses straight from the manual
- Individually with the child where possible
- Record any interesting behaviours or comments
- 10 primary subtests= 60 minutes
- Complete proforma as you go
- Ideally want to administer all in one session, but its most important to get the best out of the child
- Don’t tell the child if they get it right or wrong, or give any praise
WISC-V: Indices
Average scores range between 85 and 115
WISC-V: Subtests
Average scores range between 7 and 13
Case Example: Ben
8 years old – grade 2
At school: Poor grades across curriculum, doesn’t complete tasks in class, gets in trouble a lot, day dreams. Problems only arising this year, not in year 1 and prep
At home: only child, does homework, can do daily tasks (shower, getting ready etc.)
VCI: 100
VSI: 92
FRI:92
WMI:70
PSI:85
So, what is going on here? Thoughts? Are more tests needed?
WISC-V: Verbal Comprehension Index VCI
Similarities
Vocabulary
WISC-V: Visual Spatial Index (VSI)
Block Design
Visual Puzzles
WISC-V: Fluid Reasoning Index (FRI)
Matrix reasoning
Figure Weights
WISC-V: Working memory index (WMI)
Digit Span
Picture Span
WISC-V: Processing Speed Index (PSI)
Coding
Symbol Search
Case Example: Jane
-14 years old – grade 9
-At school: struggles with organisation and setting up/packing up at the beginning and end of each class; slow in getting from room to room (easily goes off-task); slow in completing tasks in class; day dreams frequently. Difficulties have been historic.
-Mostly average grades across curriculum, though difficulties with Maths (staff question extent of parents’ help with assignments). Low muscle tone and difficulties with fine motor skills.
-At home: has younger sibling; parents support Jane heavily to complete chores/daily living activities – frequent reminders and often doing tasks for her after getting frustrated with slow/lack of response.
VCI: 95
VSI: 85
FRI: 115
WMI: 95
PSI: 75
How do I use this information….
- Use the results to answer the initial referral question
- -e.g., “the reason your child is struggling to get good grades is because they have an intellectual disability”
- Report – Include recommendations
- Feedback
- Help the parents and school plan how they will implement your recommendations
- -Maybe have 2 meetings – one to deliver results and one to come up with a plan
What does an achievement test measure?
Assessment of knowledge AFTER formal education
Measures what a person can achieve academically compared to relevant population norms (e.g., same age or same grade)
What Achievement Tests Can I choose From?
Wechsler Individual Achievement Test, 3rd Edition (WIAT-III): 4-50: 30 minutes to 2.5 hours+ depending on age of participants and speed of responses
Woodcock-Johnson IV Tests of Achievement: 2-90+: Time varies depending on tests chosen
When would we use an achievement test?
Objectively measure academic achievement
To work out why a child is having difficulty with school work
To gather information in the process of determining whether or not a child has a specific learning disorder/learning disability
Terminology for Specific Learning Disorder
-“Specific Learning Disorder” (can have specifiers relating to reading, maths, or written expression)
-“Learning Disorder”
-“Learning Disability”
May be known as:
Dyslexia (reading)
Dysgraphia (writing)
Dyscalculia (maths)
Diagnosing “Learning Disabilities”
- NOT Intellectual Disability/Intellectual Impairment (not in Australia – this term is used in UK though)
- Presentation is heterogeneous – different between students
- Important to identify learning disabilities in order to provide support and intervention ASAP
- Focus on whether or not a student has responded to instruction/intervention in light of adjustments/interventions provided.
- In order to be identified with a specific learning disorder/learning disability, despite appropriate educational interventions being offered, the student response needs to be severe, persistent, and ongoing.
Approach to diagnosing learning disability/specific learning disorder
-Review individual’s developmental, medical, educational, and family history, reports of test scores and teacher observations, and response to academic interventions.
-Rule out alternative explanations:
Difficulty NOT better explained by developmental, neurological, sensory (visual or hearing), or motor problems
AND
Difficulty NOT due to poor cognitive ability
AND
Difficulty NOT due to environment
-Difficulty must significantly interfere with academic achievement, occupational performance, or activities of daily living.
Why do we want to diagnose specific learning disorders?
Inform interventions
Important to diagnose early, because otherwise the child may fall further and further behind, and intervention effectiveness may reduce.
Assessment to support diagnosis of Specific Learning Disorders
- Current academic skills must be well below the average range of scores in culturally and linguistically appropriate tests of reading, writing, or mathematics
- Achievement Test (e.g., WIAT-III) can be helpful in establishing child’s current academic achievement levels in these areas
- Historically: “Significant difference between cognitive ability score (higher) and achievement test score”
- However this is no longer considered appropriate as sole means of diagnosing a specific learning disorder.
- Purpose of assessment must be to inform intervention
Who administers an achievement test?
- Registered psychologists
- Depending on the test, also Allied Health or Special Education Professionals (e.g., WIAT-III)
How do we administer an achievement test?
- Standardised instructions
- Ideally in one sitting
- BUT, the top priority is to get the best out of the child
- Can be long, draining assessments - two sittings are often needed, or selected subtests chosen (i.e., whole test not administered)
Subtests and Indices/Composites in the WIAT–lll
- Oral language: Listening comprehension and oral expression
- Total Reading (Basic reading+ Reading comprehension and fluency): Reading comprehension, word reading, pseudoword decoding, oral reading fluency
- Written Expression: Alphabet writing fluency, sentence composition, spelling
- Mathematics: Maths problem solving, numerical operations
- Maths fluency: Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication
Scoring and Interpreting an achievement test
- Fill out the proforma as you go, then calculate each subtest raw score, from which you can calculate each subtest standard score
- Some items may be more subjective to score than others (e.g., “Essay Composition” and “Oral Expression” subtests).
- Look at each standard score and see where it falls.
- Decide whether YOU THINK the child’s standard scores reflect their ability.
- -Is there any reason why the child might not have been doing their best??
- -Any other reasons the test score might be an under-estimation of the child’s current achievement levels?
Interpreting WIAT-III scores
- You should get a score ranging between 40 and 160 for each of the overall areas (Oral Language, Total Reading, Written Expression, Mathematics, and Maths Fluency)
- Compare these scores to FSIQ score if available
- Note if any of the scores are considerably lower or higher than the other scores or than the FSIQ
How do I use this information?
-To answer the referral question:
–E.g., “school is difficult for your child because your child seems to have a specific learning disorder relating to writing. Their other academic skills and their IQ are within the average range”
-Write a report for parents and teachers
-Meeting with parents and teachers to explain the report
To plan interventions to make school easier
What does an aptitude test measure?
Predicts FUTURE behaviour
Measures a person’s aptitude to develop skills in a specific area
When would we use an aptitude test?
- Determine suitable career paths
- Determine whether an individual has the necessary skills for a particular profession
- Psychologists don’t use aptitude tests a lot.
Aptitude Tests: Differential Aptitude Tests 5th Edition (DAT)
- Grade 7-12
- 6-20 minutes/subtest
- Approx 2 hours for entire test
Aptitude Tests: DAT for personnel and career assessment
16+
6-20 minutes/subtest
Approx 2 hours for entire test
Differential Apptitude Test
- General Cognitive Abilities: Verbal reasoning and numerical ability
- Perceptual Abilities: Abstract reasoning, space relations, mechanical reasoning
- Clerical and language skills: Spelling, language usage, clerical speed and accuracy
Administering and scoring an aptitude test
- Not necessarily a psychologist
- Guidance counsellor for high school kids
- Organizational Psychologist
- Human Resources professionals
- Employers may administer aptitude tests when hiring
- Pen and paper tests that participant completes individually under controlled conditions (e.g., silence)
Interpreting the DAT
- Computer-scored
- Percentiles tell us what percentage of the norm group the participant scored better than.
- 97th Percentile = participant performed better than 97% of reference group
- Produces a percentile rank for each of the 8 tests
What do I do with DAT results
- Feedback to individual
- Help high school kids decide what subjects to study for their senior years at high school, and what future employment might suit them
- Decide which applicants would be best for an employment position
