Psychological Testing and Assessment of Adolescents Paper
Assessment plays a significant role in the educational setting. Educators may want to assess what students have learned in class, or they may want to find out the extent to which students are able to learn more advance material. A variety of testing instruments are used in all levels of education.
Write a 750-1,000-word paper about the significance of intelligence testing. Include the following in your paper:
An explanation of the significance of intelligence tests
- The attributes of the test to include normative culture, language, and so forth
- An example of when it would be appropriate to administer the test and why
- A minimum of three scholarly resources
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.
Psychological Testing and Assessment of Adolescents Paper
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Psychological Testing and Assessment of Adolescents Paper
Different scholars and professionals provided different definitions of the term intelligence. Some scholars such as Sir Francis Galton described people with the best sensory abilities as the most intelligent while Alfred Binet associated intelligence with the ability to determine a solution to a specific task. Piaget associated intelligence with cognitive development that begins when one is born and continues through the adolescent and young adulthood stages. One of the most comprehensive descriptions of intelligence was provided by David Weschler who described intelligence as the aggregate capacity to engage in rational thinking, act purposefully, and engage effectively with one’s surroundings. Wechsler also emphasized the significance of considering non-intellectual factors such as personality and affective traits when measuring intelligence. There are different types of intelligence including interpersonal, spatial, musical, intrapersonal, logical-mathematical, linguistic, and bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. Intelligence testing entails sampling an individual’s performance on different tasks and test types based on their developmental levels (Cohen & Swerdlik, 2018). The purpose of this essay is to explain the significance of intelligence testing and to describe the attributes of intelligence testing and provide an example of a situation where a test should be administered.
Significance of Intelligence Tests
In intelligence testing, the assessment process entails providing standardized situations where an individual’s approach to completing various tasks can be observed closely. Intelligence tests can be administered to people of all ages and are also useful in diverse settings such as the military, schools, and among employees in organizations. The types of tasks assessed in intelligence tests vary according to age. For instance, tests administered to infants assess nonverbal motor responses including sitting up, imitating gestures, and turning over. For such tests, examiners must be able to establish rapport and be patient when engaging with the infants. Intelligence evaluations later shift to performance and verbal abilities for older children who perform tasks that measure vocabulary, language, social judgment, reasoning, attention, memory, spatial visualization, and concentration (Cohen & Swerdlik, 2018).
Intelligence tests also provide the opportunity for assessing an individual’s reactions to frustration, failure, and success which provide significant insights that can be used to identify any intelligence deficits and assets. In school-going children, such information may help educators tailor teaching agendas for effective learning mainly because they will have access to information about the students’ strengths and weaknesses. Intelligence tests also help identify cognitive deficiencies and developmental delays among learners which in turn help to determine effective learning methods for children with cognitive disabilities. Intelligence tests for adults help to tap abilities such as expressive language, information retention, social judgment, and quantitative reasoning. Notably, intelligence tests administered to adults usually seek to measure skill acquisition and learning potential or facilitate access to clinically-relevant information (Cohen & Swerdlik, 2018).
Attributes of an Intelligence Test
An example of an intelligence test is the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale–Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV) test which contains ten main subtests and five supplemental subtests. The main subtests include vocabulary, arithmetic, visual puzzles, symbol search, information, matrix reasoning, similarities, block design, and digit span. The supplemental subtests include cancellation, comprehension, figure weights, picture completion, and letter-number sequencing. WAIS-IV has high internal consistency. Its validity was established through discriminative and convergent validity studies. WAIS-IV is used among people aged between 16 years to 90 years. the test is widely used in the U.S. although it has low reliability for people whose IQ scores are less than 50. Additionally, the WAIS-IV has been criticized for yielding low IQ scores among culturally-deprived children. The WAIS-IV has also been adapted into numerous languages including Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Korean, and Indonesian (Cohen & Swerdlik, 2018). However, there are concerns regarding the reliability of the test in different languages. For instance, Suwartono et al. (2014) assessed the reliability of Indonesian WAIS-IV and determined that after translation, most of the subtests must undergo major changes which affect their reliability. Notably, some test items assess Western culture knowledge which may not be common in other countries beyond the U.S. resulting in lower scores for non-English users. Lindau and Najstrom (2018) described the limitations of using WAIS-IV among older adults and mentioned that the test does not effectively capture variability in intelligence among the elderly.
Example of when it would be appropriate to administer the test
It would be appropriate to administer the WAIS-IV test to adolescents diagnosed with autism to evaluate cognitive functioning. As per Nyrenius and Billstedt (2019), children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often exhibit cognitive impairment although this may vary from one person to another. WAIS-IV can be used to identify deficits in verbal comprehension, social perception, and processing speed. This information is critical when developing learning plans for adolescents with ASD.
Conclusion
Intelligence tests are important because they help assess cognitive abilities and identify any strengths and weaknesses one may have. These tests can also be used to assess developmental milestones among infants and children. For school-going children, intelligence tests help to determine any learning deficiencies and strengths and educators can use this information to develop learning strategies based on individual student capabilities. The WAIS-IV is an example of an intelligence test that is generally regarded as valid and reliable although research evidence illustrates that the test’s reliability is affected upon translation to other languages and when used among culturally-deprived people. WAIS-IV can be effectively used to assess cognitive abilities among adolescents with autism.
References
Cohen, R. J. & Swerdlik, M. E. (2018). Psychological testing and assessment (9th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies.
Lindau, M., & Najstrom, M. (2018). Cross-cultural applicability and reduction of the American seven-subtest short form of the WAIS on a Swedish non-clinical sample. Nordic Psychology, 71(3), 148-163. https://doi.org/10.1080/19012276.2018.1520643
Nyrenius, J., & Billstedt, E. (2019). The functional impact of cognition in adults with autism spectrum disorders. Nordic Journal Of Psychiatry, 74(3), 220-225. https://doi.org/10.1080/08039488.2019.1694698
Suwartono, C., Halim, M., Hidajat, L., Hendriks, M., & Kessels, R. (2014). Development and Reliability of the Indonesian Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV). Psychology, 05(14), 1611-1619. https://doi.org/10.4236/psych.2014.514171