PSY2004 S2 W2 IDing Atypical Development Flashcards
What are some reasons that define atypical development is difficult?
a) Individual differences in the rate of development
b) Individual differences in people’s traits, strengths and weaknesses
What is the textbook definition of atypical development?
The extremes of individual differences in development
Is atypical development just slower rates of development ?
No it can include advanced development and delayed development.
Atypical development doesn’t have to be just slow it can also be advanced, developing faster
What is atypical development associated with ?
Generally associated with neurodevelopmental conditions (e.g. autism spectrum conditions, ADHD, William’s syndrome, intellectual disability, etc).
What is a lower stating point atypical development?
child starts at a lower level of ability and then develop at the same rate as a typical developing child, but they never catch up because they started much lower.
What is delay with catch up?
your rate of develop is slower but you catch up to the typical development
What are the 4 atypical development trajectories?
Delay, Delay with catch up, Lower starting point and Advanced
What is developmental regression?
Regression is typically seen in children with autism spectrum conditions and / or intellectual disability. Regression is defined as a period where a particular skill is developing along a typical trajectory, but then a child loses aspects of this skill, e.g. stops speaking in two-word phrases.
Most often seen in language and in motor skills.
What is the average age of regression?
2-3 years
What domains does development occur across?
- Adaptive Behaviour
- Social
- Cognitive
- Physical
- Motor Skills
What in included in adaptive behaviour?
functional decision making
personal safety
managing money
ability to work
daily living skills
independence
personal responsibiliy
What is included in the social domain of development?
gestures
reciprocal eye contact
empathy
Verbe communication
social interactions
non-verbal communication
turn taking
emotional IQ
What is included in cognitive domain of development?
IQ
Memory
Attention
Language
Executive function
Numerical ability
What’s included in physical domain of development?
facial dysmorphism
microcephaly
macrocephaly
physical features (heart)
What are included in motor skill domain in development?
fine motor skills
balance
coordination
gross motor skill
activity level
How can we idenitfy if development is atypical?
Normal distribution:
Obtained by testing many (100+) participants.
For many variables (e.g. height, weight, IQ, other cognitive abilities) samples from the population generate a normal distribution.
‘Normal distribution’ = ‘normal curve’ = ‘Bell shaped curve’
What is important when measuring atypical development?
Group comparisons against a representative (or ‘normative’) sample. It is important to choose an appropriate control group.
What variable is used to compare development?
When measuring development we look at chronological age and mental age.
What is important when mesuring development ?
STRENGHTS
We can’t build a full profile and understanding of a child’s abilities unless we identify their strengths and weaknesses. ‘Strengths’ can be subjective or ‘relative’
o Something they’re good at compared to their other skills
o Not necessarily a strength compared to other people
What tools do we have to measure development?
Specific experimental designs and standardised tests
What is specific experimental design?
Designed to investigate a specific research question or hypothesis. The format can vary widely depending on the research question and methodology. Target specific behaviours. Can compare participants’ results with a matched control group (e.g. age, gender, IQ)
Examples include face recognition tasks, theory of mind tasks & executive function tasks
What is a standardised test?
Designed to measure knowledge or skills in a consistent and comparable way across a large population. Follow a fixed format with specific instructions, questions, and scoring procedures. Participants’ scores can be standardized i.e. assigned a value that indicates how well they performed compared to every other person who has taken the test (regardless of individual differences)
What are some examples of standardised tests?
Examples include generalised intelligence tests e.g.
o Weschler Ability Scale for Intelligence (WASI)
o Weschler Intelligence Scales for Children (WISC)
o British Ability Scale
What is the goal of specific experimental design ?
experiments aim to test a speicifc skill or test hypothesis
What is the scope of specific experimental design ?
focused on a specific research question.
What is the scope of standardised tests ?
Standardised tests are broad in scope, covering a range of topics or skills
What is the generalisability of specific experimental design ?
experiments may have limited generalisability depending on the sample and conditions.
What is the goal of standardised tests ?
Standardised tests aim to measure broader knowledge or skills
What is the generalisability of standardised tests ?
Standardised tests aim to generalise results to a larger population
What are the benefits of using standardised scores?
- Using standardised scores enables researchers / clinicians to standardise performance across different groups, different tests, etc.
- They provide a common language for discussing test performance regardless of how the actual test is designed.
- Easily interpretable for clinicians / researchers.
- There isn’t one set way of standardising, although they all end up allowing the same comparison
How do you interprete task performance in standardised scores?
After completing a test and obtaining a raw score, the experimenter / clinician uses a “look-up table” based on appropriate representative sample to identify a scaled score. Raw scores are scaled by converting to standard scores. There are different ways to create standardised scores. One example is t-scores.
What is Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (Bayley-III)?
Infants and toddlers aged 1 to 42 months.
It evaluates cognitive, motor, language, social-emotional, and adaptive behaviour.
Tests include observation of motor skills (e.g. rolling), tests of cognition (e.g. attention span) and social interaction
What tests are used for younger participants?
Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (Bayley-III) and Infant-Toddler Developmental Assessment (IDA)
What’s a Infant-Toddler Developmental Assessment (IDA)?
From birth to 36 months who are at risk of developmental delays or conditions
It evaluates cognitive, motor, language, social-emotional, and adaptive behaviour through observation, parent report, and standardised tasks.
The IDA is often used in early intervention programs to identify children who need additional support
What is the mean value for t-score?
50
What is
The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) is a widely used intelligence test for children aged 6 to 16.
* Working memory index
* Processing Speed index
* Verbal comprehension index
* Fluid reasoning index
* Visual spatial index
What are some tasks used in the WISC?
Figure Weights, visual puzzles, matrix reasoning, vocab, similarities, digit span
How is adaptie behaviour measured?
Vineland adaptive behaviour scales (VABS)
What is the Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales (VABS)?
Semi-structured interview carried out with parent / caregiver / teacher
Communication: Receptive: what he or she understands; Expressive: What the individual says; Written: What he or she read and writes.
Daily Living Skills: Personal: How the individual eats, dresses; Domestic: What household tasks the individual performs; Community: How the individual uses time, money, etc.
Socialization: Interpersonal Relationships: How the individual interacts with others. Play and Leisure Time: How the individual plays. Coping skills: How the individual demonstrates responsibility and sensitivity to others.
Motor Skills: Gross Motor: How the individual uses arms and legs for movement and coordination. Fine Motor: How the individual uses hands and fingers to manipulate objects.
Maladaptive Behaviour Internalizing, Externalizing and other types of undesirable behaviour that may interfere with the individual’s adaptive functioning.
What are some ways to test in non-verbal participants?
Wechsler Nonverbal Scale of Ability (WNV)
Leiter International Performance Scale - Revised (Leiter-R)
What is Wechsler Nonverbal Scale of Ability (WNV)?
Assesses non-verbal reasoning and problem-solving skills in individuals aged 4 to 21.
It uses visual stimuli and requires minimal verbal instruction, making it suitable for children with language difficulties or those who are non-verbal.
Consists of subtests such as Object Assembly, Block Design, and Picture Arrangement
What is Leiter International Performance Scale - Revised (Leiter-R)?
Assesses cognitive abilities in individuals aged 3 to 75.
It uses a variety of tasks, such as matching pictures, completing patterns, and solving mazes, to assess different aspects of intelligence.
Particularly useful for assessing individuals with autism, language impairments, or hearing impairments.
How do we interprete task performance with standardised scores?
We convert the raw score to something called a ‘standardized score’.
Standardising a score converts the raw score to a value that represents how a participant has performed compared to others of the same age/gender.
This allows us to remove individual differences and generate a score that we can compare across participants.
How are T-socres scaled?
T-scores are scaled such that 50 represents the mean and 10 represents 1 standard deviation (e.g. a t-score of 60 = 1 sd above the mean and a t-score of 40 – 1 sd below the mean).
