Testing Children: A Practitioner's Guide to the Assessment of Mental Development in Infants and Young Children

Beginning with an exploration of the nature of mental development itself, the author explains how the very presence of the assessor impacts on the assessment process both in terms of perceptual idiosyncrasies and in terms of the effectiveness with which the interpersonal dynamics between child, carer and assessor are managed. This is a holistic guide to skilled observation, accurate interpretation, and effective reporting, which equips the reader to derive accurate conclusions in the best interests of the particular needs of the child under assessment.

Table of Contents:
Introduction ... 1 Section One: Theoretical Perspectives On Mental Measurement 1 The Challenge of Evaluation ... 5 Making Sense of Information ... 5 A Brief History of Mental Measurement ... 6 What Test Scores Do not Measure ... 8 Points for Reflection ... 10 2 The Concept of Mind ... 11 An Evolutionary View ... 11 The Mental Legacy ... 12 Soul, Mind and Thought ... 12 Body and Mind ... 13 3 The Psychological Route ... 15 Issues in Communication ... 15 Two Different Faces of Psychology ... 16 Gateways to the Mental Domain... 17 Underlying Processes in the Mental Domain ... 22 The Structure of Thinking (see also Appendix 1) ... 23 Section Two: A Guide to Psychometrics 4 About Numerical Values of Mental Ability ... 29 The Meaning of Numbers ... 29 Norm-Referenced Testing ... 30 What Do We Need to Know? ... 31 The Concept of Mental Age ... 33 Understanding the Nature of Psychometric Tests ... 33 More About the Process of Test Development ... 36 IQ in Relation to the Normal Distribution Curve ... 38 viii Table of Contents Some Important Points to Bear in Mind ... 39 Why the Need for Precision? ... 40 5 About Individual Tests of Mental Development ... 43 Introduction ... 43 Test Content ... 43 Structure ... 48 Packaging ... 49 Section Three: Issues in Application 6 Common Errors During the Assessment Interview ... 53 Introduction ... 53 The Assessment Setting ... 54 The Social Skills of Engagement ... 55 Parental Preparation ... 57 Test Administration ... 58 Scoring ... 62 The Care of Test Materials ... 65 Some Practical Suggestions for Maintaining the Flow of the Test Session... 66 7 The Task of Observation ... 69 Introduction ... 69 Issues in Observation ... 69 How to Improve Observation Skills ... 71 8 How Skilled Observation Assists Evaluation ... 73 Introduction ... 73 The Area of Language ... 73 The Area of Vision ... 75 The Area of Touch ... 77 9 Facilitators and Promoters in the Developmental Process ... 79 Introduction ... 79 The Child with Emergent Skills ... 79 The Child as a Whole ... 85 The Quality of Parenting ... 87 Table of Contents ix 10 Communicating Findings: How to Write a Report ... 89 Introduction ... 89 The Contents of the Report ... 90 11 Some Memorable Moments During Assessments ... 95 Introduction ... 95 Motherly Love ... 95 Shaken and Stirred ... 96 Finally Satisfied ... 97 Epilogue ... 99 Appendices Appendix 1: How We Make Sense of Information Received: ... 107 A Possible Model for the Structure of Thinking ... 107 Appendix 2: Nature and Function of Measurement ... 110 Appendix 3: The Gaussian Curve and Equivalent Values ... 115 Appendix 4: Table of IQ Ranges and their SD Points and Descriptive Levels ... 116 Appendix 5: Notes on Play ... 117 Appendix 6: Language Development ... 119 Appendix 7: The Hand ... 123 Appendix 8: Facial Expressions ... 129 References ... 131

About the Author :
Phyllis Preston - AFBPsS, C. Psychol (Clinical/Educational) - read Psychology at University College London with Cyril Burt then gained her postgraduate clinical training at the Maudsley Hospital, London Institute of Psychiatry with Hans Eysenck and Monte Shapiro. She has enjoyed a long career in applied psychology within a wide variety of settings: University Departments, National Health Service hospitals, Local Education Authority Psychological Services, schools and social services provisions. This has enabled her to sample most conditions of physical handicap, mental disorders, social deprivation, and of their consequent problems, and learn the therapies available to help relieve them. Her experience has led her to view the mental field as a reactive determinant of malfunction in children (and adults), such as observed in learning, affective, and behaviour disorders often compounded by the deficits/ deprivations of social inequality. Her special interest in the very young was established early and still holds; she continues to teach the skill of assessing mental development to professionals working in the applied fields of psychology and paediatrics.

Review :
"Written by an experienced psychologist specialising in the development of infants and young adults and aims to help practitioners to achieve accurate results and reach conclusions best suited to the particular needs of the child under assessment... The author gives useful suggestions on how to properly engage the young child [and] clear instructions when illustrating the proper [use of] Griffith Mental Development Scales, the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, and the Weschler Pre-school and Primary Scale of Intelligence etc... I particularly appreciate the real-case vignettes cited at the end of the book... I recommend this book to professionals working in the testing field, particularly the beginners. It offers a general and holistic guide to skilled observation, accurate interpretation and effective reporting, which equips the reader with the tools to derive accurate conclusions in the best interests of the child under assessment." Flora YM Mo in the Hong Kong Journal of Psychiatry, 2006, Vol. 16