What Psychometric Tools Are Used for Children?

Children are commonly given psychological assessments to aid in the diagnosis of learning disabilities and ADHD.

Psychometric tools are psychological and educational assessments or tests given to measure and categorize intelligence, academic performance, personality and neuropsychological functioning. These assessments are often standardized. This means there are consistent ways of administering, scoring and interpreting them. They are also usually norm based; that is, scores are compared with a predefined population. A child is generally compared with others of the same age and at the same grade level.

Purpose

A child is often given psychometric assessments to determine whether a psychological disorder or cognitive deficit is present. Psychological testing is commonly used to diagnose attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), mental retardation, learning disabilities, pervasive developmental disorders and mood disorders.

Aptitude Tests

Intelligence, or aptitude, tests primarily measure a child's verbal and performance (nonverbal processing) intelligences. Scores range from 40 to 160, with scores of 90 to 110 falling in the average range or near the 50th percentile.

Academic Testing

Academic tests measure a child's skill level in areas such as reading, mathematics and spelling. An academic test is often compared with intelligence test results to determine if there is a significant discrepancy between a child's IQ and academic performance. A significant discrepancy might suggest a learning disability or other psychological concerns that could be hindering performance.

Personality Tests

A child may be administered a personality test to determine if there are deficits in social and emotional functioning. These tests are commonly designed in a true-or-false format and are often administered by computer.

Neuropsychological Tests

Neuropsychological assessments ask the child to perform tasks that are associated with a particular part of the brain---usually the frontal lobe. These assessments are most often used with children who are suspected of having a processing deficit, learning disability, pervasive developmental disorder or attention deficit.

References

• "Essentials of the WISC-IV Assessment"; Dawn Flanagan et al.; May 2009
• "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV-TR"; American Psychiatric Association; July 2000

Resources

• Jerome M. Stattler, Publisher: Assessment of Children: Behavioral, Social and Clinical Foundations