Neuropsychological Tests and Testing Terminology: Achievement Tests, Intelligence Tests, Speech and Language Tests
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Common problems that lead families and schools to seek testing include: learning and academic difficulty, speech and language issues, neuromotor, behavior and social skill deficits.
Parents who consider having their child tested, quickly discover that there is a large amount of specific, unfamiliar vocabulary used by testing professionals that they need to learn in order to be a better advocate for their child(ren).
Some of the common terminology used with the different types of evaluations for the common problems that lead families to request testing are listed and briefly explained below. This information is simply an introduction to typical tests and related testing terminology.
Intelligence tests are designed to measure a child’s brain functioning/cognitive skills and ability in a variety of areas. An IQ (Intelligence Quotient) includes information from sub-tests in verbal and performance areas. Schools and psychologists often compare different test results to intelligence tests in order to understand a child’s potential and relative strengths and weaknesses. The WISC lV and The Standord Binet lV are two intelligence tests currently used by clinical psychologists to measure intelligence.
Achievement tests are designed to measure a child’s academic skills in major areas of learning such as reading,writing, spelling, and math. A child’s achievement score can be compared with his/her full scale intelligence score to find out if there is a descrepancy. Common achievement tests include the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT 3) , The Welchsler Individual Achievement Test (WIAT ll) and The Woodcock-Johnson Achievement Test (WJ lll).
Speech and Language testing: Speech and language therapists conduct tests that measure a child’s abiity to speak clearly, and to use language to understand (receptive vocabulary), and express (expressive language) him/herself. Communication through pragmatics is also included in this specialized area of testing. Common language tests include the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-lll) and the Clinical Evaluation of Language Functioning (CELF 3).
A lack of familiarity with testing terminology combined with other unknowns relating to the testing process make it an extra challenge for parents to make good decisions for their child(ren). A good place to begin is to learn about some of the more common problems that affect a child’s learning, the common assessments used to assess these problem areas, and what specialist(s) are qualified to administer, interpret and make suggestions for building skills and/or remediating weak areas.
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