Norm-Referenced Tests and Test Scores: What does it all mean?

1
Norm-Referenced Tests and Test ScoresWhat does
it all mean?

• Steven M. Koch, Ph.D.
• Riley Child Development Center
• IU School of Medicine - Department of Pediatrics

2
Presentation Goals

• Recognize areas of assessment
• Understand standardized test scores
• Learn about the new SSA Test List
• Identify resources on specific tests

3
Questions asked and answered today

• Why do we assess children?
• How do we assess children?
• Why do I need to know about the tests?
• What do I need to know about the tests?
• What are all those scores?
• And what do they mean?
• Where can I find information on tests?

4
Why do we assess children?

• Guide diagnosis
• Determine eligibility
• SSI
• Medicaid waiver
• Special education
• Monitor progress
• Determine treatment approach
• Research

5
How do we assess children?

• Four Pillars of Assessment (Sattler, 2001)
• Norm-referenced tests (standardized tests)
• Interviews
• Observations
• Informal assessment procedures
• Testing should be fair and culture-free

6
Norm-referenced tests

• Provide a degree of quantification of the childs
  functioning in a given area
• Describes the childs present functioning in
  reference to peer group
• Identifies strengths and weaknesses in area
• Provides a baseline for later testing

7
Interviews

• Structured interviews
• Semi-structured interviews
• Free flowing interviews

8
Observations

• Systematic observations / data collection
• Frequency counts
• Incident logs
• Informal observations
• Approach towards more difficult tasks
• Generate hypotheses

9
Informal Assessment

• Non-standardized assessment approaches that test
  an examiners hypothesis
• Can further identify particular strengths and
  weaknesses
• Examples of informal assessment procedures
• Reading passages
• Play-based assessment

10
Fair testing

• Fair testing does not mean the same test is
  administered to all individuals.
• The tests selected for each child should address
  the questions asked, and the areas of concern.
• The impact of other skills on performance
• should be minimized

11
Why do I need to know about all these tests?
12
Why do I need to know about tests?

• Provides an understanding of the tests which are
  a part of the claimants file
• Can provide guidance when requesting a CE
• How can the CE obtain the needed information to
  help with the eligibility determination?
• What instruments or areas of assessment
• would be most helpful as part of the CE?

13
In what areas do we assess children?
14
Areas assessed by norm-referenced instruments

• Intelligence / cognition
• Social / emotional
• Adaptive functioning
• Speech
• Oral language
• Academic
• Gross fine motor
• Early childhood / global development

15
Intelligence / Cognition

• Definitions (Sattler, 2001)
• Higher-level components, which include abstract
  reasoning, representation, problem solving, and
  decision making
• Overt behavioral manifestations represented by
  effective or successful responses
• Elementary processes, such as perception,
  sensation and attention
• Executive processes
• Memory
• Ability to learn

16
Intelligence / Cognition

• Assessment approaches
• Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children 4
• Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale 3
• Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning 2
• Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales 5
• Differential Abilities Scale
• Bayley Scales of Infant Development 3
• Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test

17
Social / Emotional

• Definitions
• Assessment of emotional status, impact of mental
  disorders on functioning, and social interactions
  and relationships with others
• Often viewed as internalizing and externalizing
  behaviors.

18
Social / Emotional

• Internalizing
• Anxiousness, depressed mood, somatic complaints
• Externalizing
• Hyperactivity, verbal aggression, physical
  aggression
• Other areas
• Social problems, inattention,
• thought disturbance

19
Social / Emotional

• Assessment approaches
• Mental Status Examination
• Child Behavior Checklist
• Behavior Assessment System for Children 2
• Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function
• Revised Childrens Manifest Anxiety Scale
• Roberts Apperception Test for Children 2
• Childrens Depression Inventory
• Functional Behavior Assessment

20
Adaptive Functioning

• Definitions
• The effectiveness with which individuals meet the
  standards of personal independence and social
  responsibility expected of individuals of their
  age and cultural group (Sattler, 2002).
• Multifactorial
• Independent functioning, physical development,
• economic activity, language development,
• numbers time, (pre)vocational, self-direction,
• responsibility, socialization (AAMR)

21
Adaptive Functioning

• Assessment approaches
• Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales 2
• Scales of Independent Behavior Revised
• Adaptive Behavior Assessment System 2
• Semi-structured interview

22
Speech

• Definitions
• Involves the production of sounds which form
  words
• Areas of speech disorders
• Oral-Motor
• Apraxia
• Articulation
• Stuttering / Dysfluency
• Phonological disorder

23
Speech

• Assessment approaches
• Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation 2
• Khan-Lewis Phonological Analysis 2
• Photo Articulation Test 3
• Stuttering Severity Inventory 3

24
Oral Language

• The use of words and sentences to convey meaning
  to others. Oral language examines both the
  production of messages (expressive) and their
  receipt (receptive).
• Basic components
• Semantics
• Syntax
• Morphology
• Phonology
• Pragmatics

25
Oral Language

• Assessment approaches
• Preschool Language Scale 4
• Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals 4
• Receptive-Expressive Emergent Language Scale 3
• Test of Language Development 3
• Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test 3
• Rosetti Infant-Toddler Language Scale
• Test of Pragmatic Language
• Hawaii Early Learning Profile

26
Academic

• Definitions
• The skills children learn through direct
  intervention or instruction (Sattler, 2001)
• Commonly assessed skills include
• Reading individual words
• Reading comprehension
• Mathematics
• Spelling
• Written expression

27
Academic

• Assessment approaches
• Wechsler Individual Achievement Test 2
• Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement 3
• Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement 2
• Woodcock Reading Mastery Test 2
• KeyMath 2
• Diagnostic Achievement Battery 3

28
Gross Fine Motor

• Definitions
• Gross motor refers to tasks involving the larger
  muscles of the body, such as the legs and trunk
• Fine motor refers to tasks involving the hands
  and wrists
• Visual-motor refers to the integration of visual
• and fine motor, such as handwriting
• Sensory integration refers to the ability to
• regulate sensory input (auditory, visual,
• tactile, kinesthetic)

29
Gross Fine Motor

• Assessment approaches
• Peabody Developmental Motor Scales 2
• Bruininks Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency
• Beery-Buktenica Test of Visual-Motor Integration
  5
• Gross Motor Function Test
• The Sensory Profile

30
Early Childhood / Global

• Many instruments assessing youth in early
  childhood examine multiple areas of development,
  such as cognitive, speech, language, motor,
  school readiness, etc.
• Norm-referenced tests are not always
• appropriate for this age, and more
• curriculum-based approaches are
• utilized

31
Early Childhood / Global

• Assessment approaches
• Bayley Scales of Infant Development 3
• Assessment, Evaluation Programming System
• Kaufman Survey of Early Academic and Language
  Skills
• Bracken Basic Concept Scale 2
• Hawaii Early Learning Profile
• Infant Toddler Social Emotional Assessment
• Carolina Curriculum for Infants / Toddlers

32
What scores are provided by tests?
33
Types of scores

• Raw scores
• Number of correct responses for a test
• May be useful when measuring progress
• Standard and Scaled Scores
• Normal distribution of raw scores (established
• mean and standard deviation)
• IQ scores
• T-Scores

34
Normal Distribution Curve

• Also called the bell curve (due to its shape),
  or the gaussian curve (after Carl Friederich
  Gauss)

35
Normal Distribution Curve

• Mean (?) average score
• Standard deviation (?) spread of scores

36
Normal Distribution Curve
Population Mean 100 SD 15
Standard deviation
37
Normal Distribution Curve
Population Mean 100 SD 16
Standard deviation
38
Normal Distribution Curve
Population Mean 10 SD 3
Standard deviation
39
Normal Distribution Curve
Population Mean 50 SD 10
Standard deviation
40
Types of scores

• Age / grade equivalents
• Childs raw score in relation to average score
  for a given age
• Often used with young children, and individuals
  with developmental delays
• Often interpreted incorrectly

41
Age Equivalent

• 1
• 1
• 1
• 1
• 0
• 0
• 0
• 4

• 1
• 0
• 0
• 1
• 0
• 0
• 1
• 0
• 0
• 1
• 0
• 0
• 0
• 4

Equal raw scores leads to the same age equivalent
score. However, it does NOT mean the same items
were correctly answered. The second child
answered items that were at a higher
developmental level.
42
Types of scores

• Percentiles
• Different than percentages
• Provides comparison to peer group
• Perform equal to or better than X of children

43
Normal Distribution Curve
Population -1 SD 16ile 1 SD 84ile
Standard deviation
44
Normal Distribution Curve
Population -2 SD 2ile 2 SD 98ile
Standard deviation
45
When is a score significant?

• Generally, when a score is greater than 2 SD
  (either above or below the mean, the score is
  significantly different (e.g., an IQ of 70 or
  lower).
• The score can be significant if it is 2SD below
  OR 2SD above the mean (e.g., T-Scores on
• behavior checklists greater than 2SD
• above the mean generally indicate an
• area of concern.

46
Where can I find information on tests?
47
Where to get information

• Your medical consultants (e.g., psychologists,
  SLPs)
• Sattler, J.M. (2001). Assessment of Children
  Cognitive Applications (4th Ed.). La Mesa, CA
  Sattler Publisher.
• Sattler, J.M. (2002). Assessment of Children
  Behavioral and Clinical Applications (4th Ed.).
  La Mesa, CA Sattler Publisher.
• Buros Institute
• Mental Measurements Yearbook
• Tests in Print
• University libraries (e.g., IUPUI)
• SSA Test List

48
SSA Test List

• Updated list of tests (earlier list developed ca.
  1991)
• Recently placed on SSAs intranet
• Provides the following information
• List of tests by area
• Comprehensive, screening, subarea, special
  population
• Publisher, publication date
• Description / Purpose
• Standard administration time
• Scores (names, types)
• How information is obtained
• Is currently being updated

49
Where to get information

• Test Publishers
• Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment
• American Guidance Service
• Psychological Assessment Resources
• Psychological Corporation
• Riverside Publishing
• Western Psychological Services

50
For more information.

• Steven M. Koch, Ph.D., HSPP
• Psychologist, Interdisciplinary Training Director
• Riley Child Development Center
• IU School of Medicine Dept. of Pediatrics
• Riley Hospital for Children
• 317.274.8167
• smkoch_at_iupui.edu