Week 3 Lectures – Chapters 7 and 8

Chapter 7: Testing Special Populations

 Overview of Lecture
 Assessment of Infant Ability
 Assessment of Preschool Intelligence
 Screening for school readiness
 Tests for special populations
 Non language tests
 Non reading & Motor reduced tests
 Visual & Hearing impairments
 Assessment of adaptive behavior in Intellectual Disabilities
 What is the difference between tests for infants and preschoolers?
 Different focus for the test
 Infant Measures
 Ages 0-2.5
 focus on sensory and motor development
 Preschool Measures
 Ages 2.5-6.0
 focus on cognitive skills such as verbal comprehension & spatial thinking
 What are the measures of infant ability?
 Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS)
 Usually administered in the first week of life
 Assess infants behavioral repertoire on 28 behavioural items (9 point scale) 18 reflexes (4 point scale) and 7
qualities of responsiveness
 Recall the primitive reflexes
 Rooting reflex
 Sucking reflex
 Palmar reflex
 Babinski reflex
 Moro reflex
 Swimming reflex

 Sensitive to neurotoxin exposure
 May be used to sensitize parents to uniqueness of infant help create positive parent child bond
 Bayley-III
 Mental and motor development
 1 to 42 months
 Carefully standardized and high reliability
 Evaluation of developmental delay in infants
 Cognitive Scale
 Language Scale
 Motor Scale
 Social Emotional Scale
 Adaptive Behavioral Scale
 Additional Measures of Infant Ability (FYI)
 Battelle Developmental Inventory–2nd edition (BDI-2)
 Developmental Assessment of Young Children (DAYC)
 Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning (DIAL-3)
 Early Screening Inventory–Revised (ESI-R)
 Early Screening Profiles (ESP)
 What assessment can be used for both infants and preschoolers?
 The Devereux Early Childhood Assessment – Clinical (DECA-C)
 Assessment for preschoolers aged 2-5:11 with social, emotional or behavior problems
 Addresses four possible problem areas: attention, aggression, withdrawal/ depression, emotional control
 Addresses three protective factors: initiation, self-control, attachment
 Based on Resiliency theory: resilient children have positive outcomes in spite of environmental stressors

 What assessments measure preschool intelligence?

 Differential Ability Scales-II
 Children ages 2:6 through 17:11 
 10 core subtests, 10 diagnostic subtests
 Can be useful for assessing learning disabilities
 See Table 7.2
 Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-III (WPPSI-III)
 Children ages 2:6 to 7
 10 subtests yields Full-scale IQ and 5 Primary Indices:
 Verbal Comprehension
 Visual Spatial
 Fluid Reasoning
 Working Memory
 Processing Speed
 Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales for Early Childhood
 Children aged 2 to 7:3
 Combines the SB5 with Test Observation checklist (TOC)
 TOC uses information about test taking behaviours that can negatively impact performance (e.g., mood,
frustration tolerance, degree of cooperation/refusal, etc.)
 TOC identifies behaviours that can impact validity of test results, and early identification of LD, behaviour
problems, developmental delay, neuropsych difficulties, etc.

 What are some special nots to take into account when assessing preschoolers intelligence?
 Measures of cognitive functioning in preschoolers are influenced by their cooperation, attention, persistence,
ability to sit still & social responsiveness
 Low scores don’t necessarily reflect low functioning, so be wary of overdiagnosis

 What is the Practical Utility of Infant and Preschool Assessment?

 Predictive Validity of Infant and Preschool Tests
 Poor for infant tests
 Moderate for preschool tests
 Practical Utility of Infant Scales
 Score 2+ SDs below mean predict later developmental delay
 Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence (FTII)
 Some studies support utility as a screening test for later developmental delays.

 What is the practice of screening for school readiness? What are some concerns surrounding it?
 Purpose is to identify at-risk children so they can be referred for comprehensive evaluation
 “At risk” generally refers to the likelihood of failure in the early elementary years of schooling
 A controversial practice:
 Serious implications for school entry and grade progression
 Concerns about possible long-term labeling
 Lack of clarity regarding definition of “school readiness”
 Other pitfalls
 Waiting until the problem is observable
  Ignoring screening results
 Relying on informal methods
 Using inappropriate tests
 False positives and false negatives
 False positives  inappropriate labelling
 False negatives  missed detection of developmental problems
 Glascoe (1991) recommends false negative rate of less than 20 % & false positive rate of less than 10%

 What are the models for evaluating school readiness?

 Models for evaluating school readiness:
 Maturationist: age
 Environmental: learning and adaptive responding
 Constructivist: initiation of interactions
 Cumulative-Skills: acquisition of prerequisite skills
 Ecological: readiness of child's support system

 What are the qualities of a good school readiness screening instrument?

 Screening is provided in motor, language, cognitive, social, and emotional functioning
 Test-Retest reliability is at least .7
 Concurrent validity is at least .7
 Sensitivity (true positive) & Specificity (true negative) are both at least .7
 Testing time is 30 minutes or less
 The test is culturally valid
 Minimal expertise is required for administration
 What are instruments for screening preschool readiness?
 Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of learning (DIAL-III)
 Quick and efficient detection of developmental problems or giftedness
 Ages 2:6 to 5:11
 Domains: motor, conceptual, language, self-help, social-emotional
 Psychometrics tend to be fair to good
 Denver II
 The Denver Developmental Screening Test–Revised
 Suitable for infants and children ages 1 month to 6 years
 125 items
 Four areas: personal-social, fine motor-adaptive, language, and gross motor
 Items are a mix of parent report, direct elicitation, and observation
 Psychometrics tend to be excellent
 HOME (Hollingshed & Redlich, 1958)
 Child’s home environment based on in home observation and Interview with the primary caretaker
 Quality and quantity of stimulation and support for cognitive, social and emotional development available in
the home
 Others
 Ages and Stages Questionnaire
 Brigance Screens
 Early Screening Inventory–Revised
 First STEP Preschool Screening Tool
 Minneapolis Preschool Screening Instrument Revised
 Parents’ Evaluation of Developmental Status

 How do you test someone who experiences a disability?

 Nonlanguage Tests
 Leiter International Performance Scale Revised (LIPS-R)
  Speech impairments, examinees with weak language skills, used with any language, brain injury clients,
autism , impoverished environment
 20 subtests (2 batteries Visualization and Reasoning , Memory and Attention)
 Began testing in Hawaii and Japan
 Normed on 2,000 children, good for culture reduced testing of minority children
 Critiques (dated items and outdated norms) not a problem in the revised version
 2-20 years of age range and high ceiling to test for giftedness
 Human Figure Drawing Tests
 Goodenough- Harris Drawing Test
 Brief screening of intelligence
 73 score able items including body parts, details, proportions and perspective
 Naglieri (1988) created updated version
 Good reliability, but questionable validity
 Nonreading and Motor-Reduced Tests
 Designed for illiterate examinees who can understand spoken English
 Performance subtests of most mainstream instruments qualify as nonreading tests
 Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-IV
 Most widely known of this type of test
 Used to obtain a rapid measure of listening vocabulary with persons who are deaf or who have a
neurological or speech impairment
 Good verbal measure, but not a substitute for a general IQ test!
 Non-Reading Tests (only)
 Hiskey-Nebraska Test of Learning Aptitude
 Children 3-17 (children who are deaf, bilingual speech, language impairments)
 Needs new norms
 Test of Non verbal Intellegence-3 (TONI-3)
 Language-free multiple choice measure of cognitive ability
 Index of general intelligence (not just non verbal)
 Testing Persons with Visual Impairments
 Perkins- Binet
 Adapted from Binet Scales
 Haptic Intelligence Scale for the adult Blind (HISAB)
 adapted from Wechsler scales
 Blind Learning Aptitude Test (BLAT)
 Braille like measure of concept formation and abstract reasoning
 Testing Individuals Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
 Sign language users
 Special training and sensitivity to SL and aspects of deaf culture
 Problems with using an interpreter
 Performance subtest of the Wechsler Scales remain stable choice for psychometricians
 Formal translation of the WAIS released
 Assessment of Adaptive Behavior in Intellectual Disability
 Intellectual Disability is defined by 3 criteria (American Association of the Intellectual and Developmental
disabilities AAIDD)
 Significant sub average general intellectual functioning (under 70 to 75)
 Onset prior to eighteenth birthday
 Limitations in adaptive skill areas:
 Conceptual
 Social
 Practical
 Adaptive Skill functioning
 Measures:
 Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales, Second Edition (VABS-II)
 Scales of Independent Behavioral Revised (SIB-R) See Table 7.9 in text for list of its 14
subscales & 4 skill clusters:
 Motor
 Social & Communication
 Personal Living
 Community Living
 Inventory for Client and Agency Planning (ICAP)
 One of the most widely used tests in DD field
 See Table 7.10 in text
 Used for special services such as personal care, remedial education, vocational training and work
opportunities
 Also provides an overall Service Score (0 to 100), that helps to predict costs for service delivery
 Assessment of Autism Spectrum Disorders
 Autism a range of closely related disorders
 Usually assessed through screening, observation, and diagnostic evaluation
 Two relatively new SCREENING measures:
 Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT)
 Baby and Infant Screen for Children with Autism Traits – Part 1 (BISCUIT – Part 1)
 Overall Considerations for Testing Persons with Disabilities
 By definition, “disability” means an inability to do things in a conventional way
 Use of any standardized test needs to be considered suspect with regard to its comparison to normed
references
 Assessment of ability and function is often more informative than scores on a test
 Chapter 8: Personality Testing
 What is Personality?
 An overview of personality
 Intrapersonal: Each person is consistent to some extent; we have coherent traits and action patterns and also
react differently in different situations.
 Interpersonal: Everyone is the same to some extent and everyone is distinct to some extent; similarities and
differences exist between individuals

 What are the theoretical basis of Personality? What are the relative measure in the school of thought?
 Psychoanalytic Theory
 Sigmund Freud + many contemporaries
 Original tripartite theory of the mind 
 ID: unconscious, pleasure oriented, instinctual
 EGO: uses defence mechanisms to mitigate desires
of the ID and societal demands.
 SUPER EGO: external ethics, including parental &
societal standards
 Beware of oversimplified/outdated overviews of
psychoanalytic theories! Emphasis on:
 Relationships
 Unconscious processes
 Projective Assessments
 Assesses personality with unstructured stimuli
 Clinical utility > diagnostic utility
 Projective Techniques:
 Association Techniques – Association to inkblots or words
 The Rorschach Ink Blot Test
 Herman Rorschach (the Brad Pitt lookalike; 1884–1922)
 Show 10 inkblots & ask “What might this be?” (x2)
 Scoring is not subjective! Only the responder is doing the interpreting!
 Each response is coded based on numerous criteria, including: location, form, human
movement, use of colour, content.
 Further improvements with R-PAS assessment system
 Reliability and validity remains debatable
 Construction Techniques – Construction of stories or sequences
 The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
 30 pictures that portray a variety of subjects and themes in black and white drawings and
photographs
 Child version available
 Difficult to evaluate psychometric properties
 Completion Techniques – Completion of sentences or stories
 Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank (RISB)
 40 Sentence stems written in the first person
 Scored using adjustment scores 0 (good) to 6 (poor )
 Scoring
 Omission
 Conflict response
 Positive response
 Neutral response
 Arrangement techniques – Arrangement/selection of pictures or verbal choices
 Expression Techniques – Expression with drawings or play
  The Draw-a-Person Test
 Draw a person
 Draw a person of the opposite sex
 Make up a story
 The House-Tree-Person Test
 Interpretation
 The house drawing mirrors examinee’s home life
 The tree drawing reflects the examinee’s experience with the environment
 The person drawing echoes the examinee’s interpersonal relationships
 Type Theories
 Jungian theory of personality types.
 4 Dimensions with 4 Dichotomies
 Extraversion-Introversion (E/I)
 Attitudes: Extraversion (directing energy toward the outer world of people and objects) vs.
Introversion (directing energy towards the inner world of experiences and ideas)
 Sensing and Intuition (S/N)
 Perception- Sensing (focus on what can be perceived with the 5 senses) vs. Intuition (focus on
perceiving patterns and interrelationships)
 Thinking- Feeling (T/F)
 Process of Judging- Thinking (basing conclusions on logical analysis with a focus on objectivity
and detachment vs. Feeling (basing conclusions on personal or societal values with a focus on
understanding and harmony)
 Judging and Perceiving (J/P)
 Orientation towards external environment: Judging (decisiveness and closure) vs. Perceiving
(flexibility and spontaneity)

 Friedman & Roseman: Type A and B

 Type A – coronary prone behaviour,
 insecurity of status, hyper-aggressiveness, anger proneness and time urgency
 Type B – easygoing, non-competitive, relaxed
 Carl Rogers (person-centered, Phenomenological Theory)
 Q-sort technique: measures the self concept and the ideal self in piles of least 'like me' or most 'like me
 Cattell: Factor Analytic Trait Theory (16PF)
 A trait is any “relatively enduring way in which one individual differs from another”
 Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire
 Forced choice test 105-187 items
 Cross cultural applications?
 Factor Analytically Derived Inventories
 Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (90 items)
 Psychoticism (e.g., takes risks for fun)
 Extraversion (e.g., likes lots of excitement)
 Neuroticism (e.g. being a moody person)
 Lie/Social Desirability
 Comrey Personality Scales
 Relatively brief (180 items) with 8 factors
 Promising, but needs updated norms & more details on its technical features
 NEO-PI-R (Costa & McCrae)
 Theoretically based in the Big 5 Personality Factors
 Openness-feelings, actions, ideas, values
 Conscientiousness- values competence, order, dutifulness, self-discipline
 Extraversion-warm, gregarious, assertive
  Agreeableness-trusting, compliant, modest
 Neuroticism- emotional instability
 Big 5 NEO Personality Inventory Revised (NEO-PI-R)
 240 items rated on 5 point dimension
 3 items to check validity
 High internal consistency .95
 Stability coefficients range form .51 to .83
 Used extensively in research
 Other Theory Guided Inventories
 Personality Research Form
 Good reliability and validity data
 Form E consists of 22 scales in a 352 true-false items
 State-Trait Anxiety Inventory
 Popular self-report measure
 Differentiates between state and trait anxiety
 Good validity data
 Expected reliability data (low test-retest for state; higher for trait; excellent internal consistency)

 What are Criterion-Keyed Inventories? What are Criterion-Keyed Inventories involved in the measurement of
personality?
 Criterion-Keyed Inventories: Items assigned to a scale if they discriminate between groups (e.g., depression)
 Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2)
 Recently reduced from 567 T/F items to 338 in 2008 ‘RF’ version.
 Self-referential
 10 Clinical Scales
 Scale 1 - hypochondriasis: Neurotic concern over bodily functioning.
 Scale 2 - depression: Poor morale, lack of hope in the future, and a general dissatisfaction with one's
own life situation. High scores are clinical depression whilst lower scores are more general
unhappiness with life.
 Scale 3 - hysteria: Hysterical reaction to stressful situations. Often have 'normal' facade and then go to
pieces when faced with a 'trigger' level of stress. People who tend to score higher include brighter,
better educated and from higher social classes. Women score higher too.
 Scale 4 - psychopathic deviate: Measures social deviation, lack of acceptance of authority, amorality.
Adolescents tend to score higher.
 Scale 5 - masculinity-femininity: Stereotypical masculine or feminine interests/behaviors
 Scale 6 - paranoia: Paranoid symptoms such as ideas of reference, feelings of persecution, grandiose
self-concepts, suspiciousness, excessive sensitivity, and rigid opinions and attitudes.
 Scale 7 - psychasthenia: Originally characterized by excessive doubts, compulsions, obsessions, and
unreasonable fears, it now indicates conditions such as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). It
also shows abnormal fears, self-criticism, difficulties in concentration, and guilt feelings.
 Scale 8 - schizophrenia: Assesses a wide variety of content areas, including bizarre thought processes
and peculiar perceptions, social alienation, poor familial relationships, difficulties in concentration
and impulse control, lack of deep interests, disturbing questions of self-worth and self-identity, and
sexual difficulties.
 Scale 9 - hypomania: Tests for elevated mood, accelerated speech and motor activity, irritability,
flight of ideas, and brief periods of depression.
 Scale 10 - social introversion: Tests for a person's tendency to withdraw from social contacts and
responsibilities.
 Validity scales (Cannot Say, L,F,K) assesses unanswered questions, defensiveness, deviant responses and
subtle defensiveness
 Requires 6th grade reading level, completed in around 1.5 hours
  Raw scores are converted to T scores, with mean 50, SD 10
 Scores over 65 require consideration
 Interpretation: scale by scale, code types (e.g., 4/9)
 Good reliability and validity
 Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-IV (MCMI-IV)
 175 true false items
 27 scales designed to aid psychiatric diagnosis
 4 categories relevant to DSM-IV
 Clinical personality patterns, clinical syndromes, severe personality pathology and severe clinical
syndromes

 What are the behavioural and social learning theories of personality?

 All behaviours are learned
 Behavioural theories:
 Classical conditioning
 Operant learning
 Reinforcement
 Social Learning adds role of expectations & cognitions as they influence behaviour
 Bandura: observational learning & self-efficacy
 Rotter
 Locus of control
 Internal-external scale

 How is personality measured using behavioural approaches?

 Behavioural Assessment
 Concentrates on behavior itself rather than on underlying traits, hypothetical causes, or presumed dimensions
of personality
 Integrated into behavioural therapy
 Dictionary of Behavioral Assessment Techniques
 Evidence-Based Practice Institute, http://www.practiceground.org publishes an annotated partial list of useful
measures at http://www.practiceground.org/assessment-measures/
 Behaviour Therapy and Behavioural Assessment
 Exposure-based methods
 Behavioral avoidance test
 Fear survey schedule
 Cognitive behavior therapies
 Rational emotive therapy
 Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)
 21 quartets of hierarchy-ordered statements
 Scored 0-3
 Excellent index for depression and cognitive distortions
 Self report measure of depression
 Screening tool in clinics
 High validity for external criteria
 Self-monitoring procedures
 Pleasant Events Schedule
 Thought Record Sheet http://get.gg/docs/ThoughtRecordSheet7.pdf
 Structured Interview Schedules
 Diagnosis
 DSM-IV and the Five Axes
 The Schedule for Affective Disorders
  Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV
 Assessment by Systematic Direct Observation
 Primarily used for assessment of children
 Highly structured
 Coding complexity
 Analogue Behavioral Assessment
 Clients are observed in a contrived but plausible setting and also are instructed to engage in relevant tasks
designed to elicit behaviors of interest
 E.g., Rapid Couples Interaction Scoring System (RCISS) codes speaker and listener behaviours, verbal and
nonverbal, in adult couples
 Ecological Momentary Assessment
 “Real-time measurement of patient experience”
 Instantaneous experiences are reported on a handheld device
 Provides a more accurate and reliable approach to the assessment of patient experience than traditional
approaches