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

Testing Children
Table of Contents
Introduction
1 The Challenge of Evaluation
Making Sense of Information
A Brief History of Mental Measurement
What Test Scores Do not Measure
Points for Reflection
2 The Concept of Mind
An Evolutionary View
The Mental Legacy
Soul, Mind and Thought
Body and Mind
3 The Psychological Route
Issues in Communication
Two Different Faces of Psychology
Gateways to the Mental Domain
Underlying Processes in the Mental Domain
The Structure of Thinking (see also Appendix 1)
4 About Numerical Values of Mental Ability
The Meaning of Numbers
Norm-Referenced Testing
What Do We Need to Know?
The Concept of Mental Age
Understanding the Nature of Psychometric Tests
More About the Process of Test Development
IQ in Relation to the Normal Distribution Curve
Some important points to bear in mind
Why the Need for Precision?
5 About Individual Tests of Mental Development
Introduction
Test Content
Structure
Packaging
Section Three: Issues in Application
6 Common Errors During the Assessment Interview
Introduction
The Assessment Setting
The Social Skills of Engagement
Parental Preparation
Test Administration
Scoring
The Care of Test Materials
Some Practical Suggestions for Maintaining the Flow of the Test Session
7 The Task of Observation
Introduction
Issues in Observation
How to Improve Observation Skills
8 How Skilled Observation Assists Evaluation
Introduction
The Area of Vision (see also Appendix 6 and 8)
The Area of Touch (see Appendix 7 on the hands)
9 Facilitators and Promoters in the Developmental Process
Introduction
The Child with Emergent Skills
The Child as a Whole
The Quality of Parenting
10 Communicating Findings: How to Write a Report
Introduction
The Contents of the Report
11 Some Memorable Moments During Assessments
Introduction
Motherly Love
Shaken and Stirred
Finally Satisfied
Epilogue Beyond the Finishing Line: A Wide Angle Glance
Appendices
Appendix 1: How We Make Sense of Information Received: A Possible Model for the Structure of Thinking
Appendix 2: Nature and Function of Measurement
Appendix 3: The Gaussian Curve and Equivalent Values
Appendix 4: Table of IQ Ranges and their SD Points and Descriptive Levels
Appendix 5: Notes on Play
Appendix 6: Language Development
Appendix 7: The Hand (Notes derived from the book “Touching for Knowing” by Hatwell, Streri, & Gentaz, 2003)
Appendix 8: Facial Expressions
References