Evaluating Formal Assessment
Running Head: EVALUATION OF FORMAL ASSESSMENTS 1
Evaluation of Formal Assessments
Cherilyn Haggerty, Cheryl Hippenhammer, Elisabeth Renteria, Catina Solomon
GCU
Characteristics of Intellectual Disability & Strategies to Teach Individuals with ID
SPE-553
Dr. Bronson-Pollocks
January 7, 2014
Evaluation of Formal Assessments
Introduction
There were many intelligence and adaptive assessments that could have been reviewed and discussed. The Blue Team decided to research the WJ III COG (Intelligence), Stanford-Binet (Intelligence). Vineland, and AAMR Adaptive Behaviors Scale-School 2nd Assessments. Each member reviewed the summary and/or procedures of the assessment, the reliability and validity …show more content…
of the assessment, age range, assessment strengths, and assessment weaknesses. There was great information that was researched and shared within the group. These assessments have been used in the schools we are observing in or assessments that we have used ourselves to assess our children. Some of these assessments have been used for a long time and others are becoming the new assessment to use due to more reliable and updated information.
Matrix
Assessment Instrument
Summary/ Procedures
Usefulness, Reliability/Validity Data
Age Range
Assessment Strengths
Assessment Weaknesses
WJ III COG
This assessment measures general intellectual ability and specific cognitive abilities. Test takes approximately a total of 2 hours to complete all 20 subtests. Subtests are in the area of passage comprehension, writing fluency, letter word identification, applied problems, writing samples, reading fluency, calculation, math fluency, and spelling.
Reliability- more accurate results in the areas of functioning and working memory that provides an overall index of attention to cognitive tasks. Planning and Pair Cancellation are new assessments that monitor mental control and forethought, inference control and cognitive flexibility. Reliability testing resulted in the .80-.90 ranges.
Validity- this assessment provides valid and consistent results.
2 yrs – 90+
-Diagnose learning disabilities
- Determine discrepancies
-Results can be used to effectively plan educational and individual programs
-Computer scoring
-Multiple standard score with an overall composite score to narrow areas of weakness -Does not contain procedures for conducting error analysis
The Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale (VABS)
VABS were designed to assess handicapped and non-handicapped persons from birth to adulthood in their personal and social functioning.
VABS measures the adaptive behaviors, including the ability to cope with environmental changes, to learn new everyday skills and to demonstrate independence.
Measures four domains: Communication, Daily Living Skills, Socialization, and Motor Skills.
This assessment test is used to assess the adaptive behaviors only of individuals who are 18 years old and younger. In cases of individuals who are older and whose social functioning abilities have already been identified as below developmental expectations, the VABS can be utilized Reliability: Split-half and test-retest reliability coefficients for the Composite scores are good, ranging from median values of .83 for the Motor Skills domain to .94 for the Composite. Interrater coefficients are lower for the same measures: .62 to .78. When broken down by sub-domains, the coefficients fluctuate a great deal and some are quite low.
Validity: Selected standardization subgroups were compared on the original Vineland, the ABIC, the K-ABC, the PPVT-R, and the VABS. These concurrent measures exhibited low to moderate correlations, with generally higher coefficients obtained when the comparisons were made on subjects with handicapping conditions.
Content validity included a literature review and field tests with caregivers. (2) Criterion-related validity:
Birth to 18 years old.
Comes in three editions, the Survey Form, the Expanded Form, and the Classroom Edition.
The VABS Interview Edition is available in English and Spanish
Targets special needs children
Only a trained psychologist or social worker can validly interpret the scores
AAMR ADAPTIVE BEHAVIORS SCALE-SCHOOL 2ND
ABS-RC:2
A student with intellectual disabilities must exhibit a deficit in adaptive behavior. Adaptive behavior skills are those that are especially useful for daily functioning. Typical items on adaptive behavior scales include daily living skills; community participation skills; and functioning in specific ability areas such as demonstrating appropriate social behaviors, communication, motor abilities, and applying basic academic skills.
Part One of the ABS-S:2 focuses on personal independence and responsibility in daily living. The skills within Part One are grouped into nine behavior domains: Independent Functioning, Physical Development, Economic Activity, Language Development, Numbers and Time, Prevocational/Vocational Activity, Self-Direction, Responsibility, and Socialization. The behaviors in Part Two are assigned to seven domains, which are measures of those adaptive behaviors that relate to the manifestation of personality and behavior disorders: Social Behavior, Conformity, Trustworthiness, Stereotyped and Hyperactive Behavior, Self-Abusive Behavior, Social Engagement, and Disturbing Interpersonal Behavior. There are five factor scores: Personal Self-Sufficiency, Community Self-Sufficiency, Personal-Social Responsibility, Social Adjustment, and Personal Adjustment.
The ABS-S:2 is reported to have high internal consistency reliabilities, ranging from .82 to .99, and test-retest reliabilities ranging from .42 to
.79.
Content validity, as indicated by correlations with the Weschler Intelligence Scale for
Children-Revised (WISC-R), range from .28 to .59 for the domain scores, and .41 to .61 for the factors 3 to 18 years old
It is the only instrument to incorporate current American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR) guidelines by providing composite norms for three general areas of adaptive behavior (conceptual, social and practical)
Information is gather from a third party (teacher, parent, social worker etc.)
The Stanford Binet-Intelligence Scale
An assessment that is individually administered to measure intelligence and cognitive abilities. It covers five factors of cognitive ability both verbally and nonverbally: fluid reasoning, knowledge, quantitative processing, visual-spatial processing, and working memory.
Scoring is varied from one subtest to another.
Used to diagnose exceptionalities and developmental disorders. May also be used with other assessments and provides useful information for IEP’s.
Reliabilities for non-verbal IQ and verbal IQ for the full scale range from .95-.98.
Reliabilities for factor indexes are ranged from .90-.92. For the ten subtests, reliabilities range from .84-.89.
Validity is analyzed in the manual reports in the standardized sample, presenting the evidence valid.
2-85+ years
Compares both verbal and nonverbal performances
Uses both basil and ceiling levels.
Lower stability for young children and children with low cognitive abilities
High correlations with achievement
Younger students tend to do as well due to the child’s concentration length. Bender Gestalt
Assessment testing
Psychological Assessment instrument used to evaluate visual-motor functioning and visual perception skills in both children and adults.
Evaluates only visual motor skills in children and adults.
Age 4 and up
Individual test using paper and pencil to discover problems with the brain only
This test concentrates on one kind of problem for a child. This test would require more testing for a child which would be very stressful for a child.
Recommendations
The Woodcock Johnson III- Tests of Cognitive Abilities is an intelligence assessment the measures general intellectual ability and specific cognitive abilities.
It is composed of a series of tests that include: letter word identification, reading fluency, calculation, math fluency, and spelling, passage comprehension, writing fluency, and applied problems and writing samples. This assessment is used to determine an overall IQ score which can be used for discrepancies and allow for eligibility into special education. There are many benefits of this assessment which includes the many standard scores that one may retrieve from performing the subtests provided. There is a breakdown of where an individual may truly struggle because there are many subtests that evaluate reading, writing, and math and focus on the different skills one may need to be successful with their …show more content…
learning.
This assessment is not currently in use. The district has chosen to go with a different assessment which was changed last year. They currently are using the WISC. There has been more accuracy with using this current assessment, but the WJ III COG assessment is used as a secondary assessment if scores are border-line and the school psychologists wants to make sure that the scores were accurate.
When discussing this assessment with the special education team, they did inform me that they discussed the appreciation of having the multiple standard scores that were retrieved from administering the assessment. One dislike of the assessment was the time it took to administer it and the school psychologist did not like how the writing portion was administered. She discussed that it did not provide an accurate picture of the students’ ability. The special education teacher discussed how it did provide a great deal of data and it was helpful with creating individualized programs for students that were eligible, but she discussed how it could get confusing for parents when explaining the different scores and how those scores translate into an individual qualifying for special education.
The recommendation for this assessment was denied by the special education team due to their experiences with the assessment and approve of the current intelligence assessment that is administered due to their own experience of more accurate results and data.
VABS were designed to assess handicapped and non-handicapped persons from birth to adulthood in their personal and social functioning. VABS measures the adaptive behaviors, including the ability to cope with environmental changes, to learn new everyday skills and to demonstrate independence. It measures four domains which include: Communication, Daily Living Skills, Socialization, and Motor Skills. This assessment test is used to assess the adaptive behaviors only of individuals who are 18 years old and younger. In cases of individuals who are older and whose social functioning abilities have already been identified as below developmental expectations, the VABS can be utilized.
A student with intellectual disabilities must exhibit a deficit in adaptive behavior. Adaptive behavior skills are those that are especially useful for daily functioning. Typical items on adaptive behavior scales include daily living skills; community participation skills; and functioning in specific ability areas such as demonstrating appropriate social behaviors, communication, motor abilities, and applying basic academic skills.
Part One of the ABS-S: 2 focus on personal independence and responsibility in daily living.
The skills within Part One are grouped into nine behavior domains: Independent Functioning, Physical Development, Economic Activity, Language Development, Numbers and Time, Prevocational/Vocational Activity, Self-Direction, Responsibility, and Socialization. The behaviors in Part Two are assigned to seven domains, which are measures of those adaptive behaviors that relate to the manifestation of personality and behavior disorders: Social Behavior, Conformity, Trustworthiness, Stereotyped and Hyperactive Behavior, Self-Abusive Behavior, Social Engagement, and Disturbing Interpersonal Behavior. There are five factor scores: Personal Self-Sufficiency, Community Self-Sufficiency, Personal-Social Responsibility, Social Adjustment, and Personal
Adjustment.
This summary will be about the Bender Gestalt assessment test including the positive and negative sides of the test. This summary is in conjunction with a chart that follows. This test was designed by a psychiatrist by the name of Lauretta Bender in the late 1800’s. This test is focused on evaluating visual motor skills in a child .It concentrates on functioning and perception skills of the child. With this test it will “evaluate visual maturity, visual motor integration skills, style of responding, reaction to frustration, ability to correct mistakes, planning and organizational skills, and motivation” (Bender Gestalt,www.minddisorders.com). It is comprehensive when it comes to what it focuses on visual motor skills. This test can be administered individually which is a plus for the test giver.
This test uses “a normative sample is a group within a population who takes a test and represents the larger population. This group 's scores on a test are then be used to create "norms" with which the scores of test takers are compared “(Bender Gestalt, www.minddisorders.com.) This sample is extremely important for the testing to be valid and correct. On the other hand this test does not test for fine and gross motor skills, social skills, language and cognitive skills. Because this test does not cover these skills the child would have to take other testing which in itself additional stress and possible incorrect test results. A good assessment test should include the majority of areas of concern for the child to avoid unnecessary additional testing. Also, the person who administers the test must make certain the child has glasses if they are needed to avoid any possible mistakes by the child. The test could be incorrect if the child has severe impairments especially their motor skills. This test also does not address specific problems such as retardation and other physiological problems (Bender Gestalt , www.minddisorders.com). In addition, this test should never be given in a room with no one else is because the results could be wrong. If a clinically trained instructor is not available this test should not be used and in many schools this could be a problem at times. The person who administers the test must also be able to take their time because the test must be graded using validity and reliability carefully. Once again, to use this test other testing must be done so the child will be under more stress because of this. One of the problems with this test is that a specific child is also being compared to other special needs children which a special needs child tends to be unique in their problems. Whether this test should be used is very questionable when a special needs child will be required to take so many other tests. To avoid undue stress and problems other tests should be looked into to see if more of the problem areas of the child is being addressed. With the test givers this is popular because it takes a shorter amount of time. This does not mean it is the best and most accurate. In conclusion, it must be mentioned that considering the aim of the test giver should be to reduce any problems the child might have taking a large amount of tests this test should not be used. It is going to be hard enough for the parents and child to get through the requirements necessary to get the correct help for a child. Keeping the amount of testing down should be of extreme importance for anyone giving assessment testing.
Conclusion
In special education assessments is a very important tool to use in a child’s education. It gives the teachers, administrators and other special education team a foundation as to what problems and special needs a child is experiencing. The assessments gives the strength and weaknesses of the child being assess so professionals can have a plan and a list of goals and objectives for that particular child. The IQ test is used but it only gives a portion of the problem as far as what the child is experiencing in life and what that child knows at the time he/she takes the IQ test. Intelligence test is always accompanied by an adaptive behavior assessment. Adaptive Behavior Assessment focuses on a child daily living, social behavior, motor skills, and academics.
References
Beirne-Smith, M., Patton, J. R., & Kim, S. H. (2006). Mental retardation: An introduction to intellectual disability (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Bender Gestalt , www.minddisorders.com NTTAC. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Retrieve from
https://www.nttac.org/index.cfm?event=gsg.WebtoolSearchResultsInstrumentDetails&id=121.
Retrieve on January 3, 2014.
Retrieved on January 7, 2014:http://www.riverpub.com/clinical/pdf/WJIII_ASB2.pdf Retrieved on January 5, 2014: http://www.assess.nelson.com/test-ind/wj-3.html Sparrow, S., Cicchetti, D., & Balla, D. (2005). VINELAND ADAPTIVE BEHAVIOR SCALES, SECOND EDITION (VINELAND-II), 2005. In U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Retrieved from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/ehs/perf_measures/reports/resources_me asuring/res_meas_cdijj.html. Retrieve on January 3, 2014.
Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, Second Edition (Vineland-II). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://psychcorp.pearsonassessments.com/HAIWEB/Cultures/en-us/Productdetail.htm?Pid=Vineland-II. Retrieve on January 3, 2014.
Evaluation of Formal Assessments
Cherilyn Haggerty, Cheryl Hippenhammer, Elisabeth Renteria, Catina Solomon
GCU
Characteristics of Intellectual Disability & Strategies to Teach Individuals with ID
SPE-553
Dr. Bronson-Pollocks
January 7, 2014
Evaluation of Formal Assessments
Introduction
There were many intelligence and adaptive assessments that could have been reviewed and discussed. The Blue Team decided to research the WJ III COG (Intelligence), Stanford-Binet (Intelligence). Vineland, and AAMR Adaptive Behaviors Scale-School 2nd Assessments. Each member reviewed the summary and/or procedures of the assessment, the reliability and validity …show more content…
of the assessment, age range, assessment strengths, and assessment weaknesses. There was great information that was researched and shared within the group. These assessments have been used in the schools we are observing in or assessments that we have used ourselves to assess our children. Some of these assessments have been used for a long time and others are becoming the new assessment to use due to more reliable and updated information.
Matrix
Assessment Instrument
Summary/ Procedures
Usefulness, Reliability/Validity Data
Age Range
Assessment Strengths
Assessment Weaknesses
WJ III COG
This assessment measures general intellectual ability and specific cognitive abilities. Test takes approximately a total of 2 hours to complete all 20 subtests. Subtests are in the area of passage comprehension, writing fluency, letter word identification, applied problems, writing samples, reading fluency, calculation, math fluency, and spelling.
Reliability- more accurate results in the areas of functioning and working memory that provides an overall index of attention to cognitive tasks. Planning and Pair Cancellation are new assessments that monitor mental control and forethought, inference control and cognitive flexibility. Reliability testing resulted in the .80-.90 ranges.
Validity- this assessment provides valid and consistent results.
2 yrs – 90+
-Diagnose learning disabilities
- Determine discrepancies
-Results can be used to effectively plan educational and individual programs
-Computer scoring
-Multiple standard score with an overall composite score to narrow areas of weakness -Does not contain procedures for conducting error analysis
The Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale (VABS)
VABS were designed to assess handicapped and non-handicapped persons from birth to adulthood in their personal and social functioning.
VABS measures the adaptive behaviors, including the ability to cope with environmental changes, to learn new everyday skills and to demonstrate independence.
Measures four domains: Communication, Daily Living Skills, Socialization, and Motor Skills.
This assessment test is used to assess the adaptive behaviors only of individuals who are 18 years old and younger. In cases of individuals who are older and whose social functioning abilities have already been identified as below developmental expectations, the VABS can be utilized Reliability: Split-half and test-retest reliability coefficients for the Composite scores are good, ranging from median values of .83 for the Motor Skills domain to .94 for the Composite. Interrater coefficients are lower for the same measures: .62 to .78. When broken down by sub-domains, the coefficients fluctuate a great deal and some are quite low.
Validity: Selected standardization subgroups were compared on the original Vineland, the ABIC, the K-ABC, the PPVT-R, and the VABS. These concurrent measures exhibited low to moderate correlations, with generally higher coefficients obtained when the comparisons were made on subjects with handicapping conditions.
Content validity included a literature review and field tests with caregivers. (2) Criterion-related validity:
Birth to 18 years old.
Comes in three editions, the Survey Form, the Expanded Form, and the Classroom Edition.
The VABS Interview Edition is available in English and Spanish
Targets special needs children
Only a trained psychologist or social worker can validly interpret the scores
AAMR ADAPTIVE BEHAVIORS SCALE-SCHOOL 2ND
ABS-RC:2
A student with intellectual disabilities must exhibit a deficit in adaptive behavior. Adaptive behavior skills are those that are especially useful for daily functioning. Typical items on adaptive behavior scales include daily living skills; community participation skills; and functioning in specific ability areas such as demonstrating appropriate social behaviors, communication, motor abilities, and applying basic academic skills.
Part One of the ABS-S:2 focuses on personal independence and responsibility in daily living. The skills within Part One are grouped into nine behavior domains: Independent Functioning, Physical Development, Economic Activity, Language Development, Numbers and Time, Prevocational/Vocational Activity, Self-Direction, Responsibility, and Socialization. The behaviors in Part Two are assigned to seven domains, which are measures of those adaptive behaviors that relate to the manifestation of personality and behavior disorders: Social Behavior, Conformity, Trustworthiness, Stereotyped and Hyperactive Behavior, Self-Abusive Behavior, Social Engagement, and Disturbing Interpersonal Behavior. There are five factor scores: Personal Self-Sufficiency, Community Self-Sufficiency, Personal-Social Responsibility, Social Adjustment, and Personal Adjustment.
The ABS-S:2 is reported to have high internal consistency reliabilities, ranging from .82 to .99, and test-retest reliabilities ranging from .42 to
.79.
Content validity, as indicated by correlations with the Weschler Intelligence Scale for
Children-Revised (WISC-R), range from .28 to .59 for the domain scores, and .41 to .61 for the factors 3 to 18 years old
It is the only instrument to incorporate current American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR) guidelines by providing composite norms for three general areas of adaptive behavior (conceptual, social and practical)
Information is gather from a third party (teacher, parent, social worker etc.)
The Stanford Binet-Intelligence Scale
An assessment that is individually administered to measure intelligence and cognitive abilities. It covers five factors of cognitive ability both verbally and nonverbally: fluid reasoning, knowledge, quantitative processing, visual-spatial processing, and working memory.
Scoring is varied from one subtest to another.
Used to diagnose exceptionalities and developmental disorders. May also be used with other assessments and provides useful information for IEP’s.
Reliabilities for non-verbal IQ and verbal IQ for the full scale range from .95-.98.
Reliabilities for factor indexes are ranged from .90-.92. For the ten subtests, reliabilities range from .84-.89.
Validity is analyzed in the manual reports in the standardized sample, presenting the evidence valid.
2-85+ years
Compares both verbal and nonverbal performances
Uses both basil and ceiling levels.
Lower stability for young children and children with low cognitive abilities
High correlations with achievement
Younger students tend to do as well due to the child’s concentration length. Bender Gestalt
Assessment testing
Psychological Assessment instrument used to evaluate visual-motor functioning and visual perception skills in both children and adults.
Evaluates only visual motor skills in children and adults.
Age 4 and up
Individual test using paper and pencil to discover problems with the brain only
This test concentrates on one kind of problem for a child. This test would require more testing for a child which would be very stressful for a child.
Recommendations
The Woodcock Johnson III- Tests of Cognitive Abilities is an intelligence assessment the measures general intellectual ability and specific cognitive abilities.
It is composed of a series of tests that include: letter word identification, reading fluency, calculation, math fluency, and spelling, passage comprehension, writing fluency, and applied problems and writing samples. This assessment is used to determine an overall IQ score which can be used for discrepancies and allow for eligibility into special education. There are many benefits of this assessment which includes the many standard scores that one may retrieve from performing the subtests provided. There is a breakdown of where an individual may truly struggle because there are many subtests that evaluate reading, writing, and math and focus on the different skills one may need to be successful with their …show more content…
learning.
This assessment is not currently in use. The district has chosen to go with a different assessment which was changed last year. They currently are using the WISC. There has been more accuracy with using this current assessment, but the WJ III COG assessment is used as a secondary assessment if scores are border-line and the school psychologists wants to make sure that the scores were accurate.
When discussing this assessment with the special education team, they did inform me that they discussed the appreciation of having the multiple standard scores that were retrieved from administering the assessment. One dislike of the assessment was the time it took to administer it and the school psychologist did not like how the writing portion was administered. She discussed that it did not provide an accurate picture of the students’ ability. The special education teacher discussed how it did provide a great deal of data and it was helpful with creating individualized programs for students that were eligible, but she discussed how it could get confusing for parents when explaining the different scores and how those scores translate into an individual qualifying for special education.
The recommendation for this assessment was denied by the special education team due to their experiences with the assessment and approve of the current intelligence assessment that is administered due to their own experience of more accurate results and data.
VABS were designed to assess handicapped and non-handicapped persons from birth to adulthood in their personal and social functioning. VABS measures the adaptive behaviors, including the ability to cope with environmental changes, to learn new everyday skills and to demonstrate independence. It measures four domains which include: Communication, Daily Living Skills, Socialization, and Motor Skills. This assessment test is used to assess the adaptive behaviors only of individuals who are 18 years old and younger. In cases of individuals who are older and whose social functioning abilities have already been identified as below developmental expectations, the VABS can be utilized.
A student with intellectual disabilities must exhibit a deficit in adaptive behavior. Adaptive behavior skills are those that are especially useful for daily functioning. Typical items on adaptive behavior scales include daily living skills; community participation skills; and functioning in specific ability areas such as demonstrating appropriate social behaviors, communication, motor abilities, and applying basic academic skills.
Part One of the ABS-S: 2 focus on personal independence and responsibility in daily living.
The skills within Part One are grouped into nine behavior domains: Independent Functioning, Physical Development, Economic Activity, Language Development, Numbers and Time, Prevocational/Vocational Activity, Self-Direction, Responsibility, and Socialization. The behaviors in Part Two are assigned to seven domains, which are measures of those adaptive behaviors that relate to the manifestation of personality and behavior disorders: Social Behavior, Conformity, Trustworthiness, Stereotyped and Hyperactive Behavior, Self-Abusive Behavior, Social Engagement, and Disturbing Interpersonal Behavior. There are five factor scores: Personal Self-Sufficiency, Community Self-Sufficiency, Personal-Social Responsibility, Social Adjustment, and Personal
Adjustment.
This summary will be about the Bender Gestalt assessment test including the positive and negative sides of the test. This summary is in conjunction with a chart that follows. This test was designed by a psychiatrist by the name of Lauretta Bender in the late 1800’s. This test is focused on evaluating visual motor skills in a child .It concentrates on functioning and perception skills of the child. With this test it will “evaluate visual maturity, visual motor integration skills, style of responding, reaction to frustration, ability to correct mistakes, planning and organizational skills, and motivation” (Bender Gestalt,www.minddisorders.com). It is comprehensive when it comes to what it focuses on visual motor skills. This test can be administered individually which is a plus for the test giver.
This test uses “a normative sample is a group within a population who takes a test and represents the larger population. This group 's scores on a test are then be used to create "norms" with which the scores of test takers are compared “(Bender Gestalt, www.minddisorders.com.) This sample is extremely important for the testing to be valid and correct. On the other hand this test does not test for fine and gross motor skills, social skills, language and cognitive skills. Because this test does not cover these skills the child would have to take other testing which in itself additional stress and possible incorrect test results. A good assessment test should include the majority of areas of concern for the child to avoid unnecessary additional testing. Also, the person who administers the test must make certain the child has glasses if they are needed to avoid any possible mistakes by the child. The test could be incorrect if the child has severe impairments especially their motor skills. This test also does not address specific problems such as retardation and other physiological problems (Bender Gestalt , www.minddisorders.com). In addition, this test should never be given in a room with no one else is because the results could be wrong. If a clinically trained instructor is not available this test should not be used and in many schools this could be a problem at times. The person who administers the test must also be able to take their time because the test must be graded using validity and reliability carefully. Once again, to use this test other testing must be done so the child will be under more stress because of this. One of the problems with this test is that a specific child is also being compared to other special needs children which a special needs child tends to be unique in their problems. Whether this test should be used is very questionable when a special needs child will be required to take so many other tests. To avoid undue stress and problems other tests should be looked into to see if more of the problem areas of the child is being addressed. With the test givers this is popular because it takes a shorter amount of time. This does not mean it is the best and most accurate. In conclusion, it must be mentioned that considering the aim of the test giver should be to reduce any problems the child might have taking a large amount of tests this test should not be used. It is going to be hard enough for the parents and child to get through the requirements necessary to get the correct help for a child. Keeping the amount of testing down should be of extreme importance for anyone giving assessment testing.
Conclusion
In special education assessments is a very important tool to use in a child’s education. It gives the teachers, administrators and other special education team a foundation as to what problems and special needs a child is experiencing. The assessments gives the strength and weaknesses of the child being assess so professionals can have a plan and a list of goals and objectives for that particular child. The IQ test is used but it only gives a portion of the problem as far as what the child is experiencing in life and what that child knows at the time he/she takes the IQ test. Intelligence test is always accompanied by an adaptive behavior assessment. Adaptive Behavior Assessment focuses on a child daily living, social behavior, motor skills, and academics.
References
Beirne-Smith, M., Patton, J. R., & Kim, S. H. (2006). Mental retardation: An introduction to intellectual disability (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Bender Gestalt , www.minddisorders.com NTTAC. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Retrieve from
https://www.nttac.org/index.cfm?event=gsg.WebtoolSearchResultsInstrumentDetails&id=121.
Retrieve on January 3, 2014.
Retrieved on January 7, 2014:http://www.riverpub.com/clinical/pdf/WJIII_ASB2.pdf Retrieved on January 5, 2014: http://www.assess.nelson.com/test-ind/wj-3.html Sparrow, S., Cicchetti, D., & Balla, D. (2005). VINELAND ADAPTIVE BEHAVIOR SCALES, SECOND EDITION (VINELAND-II), 2005. In U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Retrieved from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/ehs/perf_measures/reports/resources_me asuring/res_meas_cdijj.html. Retrieve on January 3, 2014.
Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, Second Edition (Vineland-II). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://psychcorp.pearsonassessments.com/HAIWEB/Cultures/en-us/Productdetail.htm?Pid=Vineland-II. Retrieve on January 3, 2014.