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