Chapter 9 Evaluation and Assessment in Pediatrics Vocabulary

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, evaluation definitions, assessment types, and pediatric clinical concepts from Chapter 9.

Evaluation

The comprehensive process of collecting and interpreting data necessary to understand the person, system, or situation, and to make decisions about whether a child would benefit from occupational therapy services.

Assessment

A specific tool or procedure used to collect information about the child, occupations, performance skills, performance patterns, client factors, and contexts/environments.

Screening

A process using brief assessment tools and interviews to determine whether a child would benefit from a more comprehensive occupational therapy evaluation.

Reevaluation

The ongoing process of collecting and interpreting data to refine and revise the occupational therapist's understanding of the child's strengths, needs, and priorities for therapy.

Occupations

Activities that children engage in during daily life, including ADLs, IADLs, rest and sleep, education, work, play, leisure, and social participation.

Performance Skills

Observable goal-directed actions that contribute to occupational engagement, categorized into motor skills, process skills, and communication/interaction skills.

Performance Patterns

Integrated habits, routines, rituals, and roles that shape performance and participation in occupations.

Client Factors

Values, beliefs, body structures, and body functions that influence occupational performance and participation.

Occupational Profile

A summary of the child's and family's perspective, occupational history, daily living patterns, interests, values, needs, and relevant contexts gathered at the initial stage of evaluation.

Top-Down Approach

An evaluation approach in which the therapist begins by gaining an understanding of the child's level of participation in daily occupations and routines before examining specific skills and client factors later.

Bottom-Up Approach

An evaluation approach in which the therapist first evaluates specific skills or client factors (such as strength or ROM) to understand what might be limiting a child's performance skills and occupational performance.

General Activity Analysis

An analysis of the generic properties of an activity as it is typically performed, including required steps, materials, context, activity demands, and potential meanings.

Client-Focused Activity Analysis

A highly individualized analysis of the unique, personal way an activity or occupation is performed in real-life contexts by a specific individual.

Ipsative Assessment

An assessment that measures a child's performance or perception against their own prior evaluation outcomes over time using standardized procedures, without comparison to a norm or criterion.

Norm-Referenced Assessment

A standardized test developed by administering it to a large normative sample to compare an individual child's performance against the average performance of peers.

Criterion-Referenced Assessment

An assessment designed to measure a child's performance against a defined level or criterion of skill mastery rather than comparing performance to a peer group.

Reliability

The consistency or stability of test scores obtained by an individual when tested on different occasions, with different items, or under varying examination conditions.

Test-Retest Reliability

A measure of the stability of a test score over time, obtained by administering the same test to the same individual on two separate occasions.

Interrater Reliability

The degree of agreement or consistency between two independent raters scoring the same client simultaneously.

Standard Error of Measurement (SEM)

A statistical metric used to calculate the expected range of error for an individual's true test score based on the test's standard deviation and reliability coefficient.

Validity

The extent to which an assessment tool measures what it is intended and claimed to measure.

Construct-Related Validity

The degree to which a test measures an intended theoretical construct or trait.

Content-Related Validity

The extent to which items on a test accurately and comprehensively sample the targeted behavioral or skill domain.

Macroglossia

A condition in which the tongue is disproportionately large relative to the size of the mouth or jaw, frequently observed in conditions such as Down syndrome.

Ankyloglossia

A congenital oral condition (commonly termed tongue-tie) characterized by an abnormally short, thick, or anteriorly attached lingual frenulum that restricts tongue mobility.

Sialorrhea

Extensive drooling commonly caused by oral motor dysfunction and impaired swallowing rather than hyper-salivation.

Video Fluoroscopic Swallow Study (VFSS)

A radiographic procedure (also called an upright modified barium swallow study) used to analyze oral, pharyngeal, and upper esophageal swallowing anatomy and function in real time.

Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES)

A diagnostic procedure using a flexible endoscope passed through the nostril to directly visualize pharyngeal structures and swallowing function.

Aspiration

The entry of food or liquid into the airway below the level of the true vocal folds before, during, or after a swallow.

Laryngeal Penetration

The flow of food or liquid under the epiglottis into the laryngeal vestibule above the vocal cords without passing through the vocal folds.

Functional Behavioral Analysis (FBA)

A systematic five-step process designed to identify the antecedent, behavior, and consequence (A-B-C) variables maintaining a challenging behavior to guide intervention planning.

Growth Mindset

A belief that abilities and intelligence can be developed through dedication, effort, and learning from failure, reinforcing self-efficacy.

Sensory Modulation

The central nervous system's capacity to regulate its own activity by generating responses that are appropriately graded relative to incoming sensory stimuli.

Adaptive Response

A successful, goal-directed action on the environment in response to an environmental challenge, facilitated by efficiently organized sensory information.

Neural Plasticity

The brain's ability to structurally and functionally reorganize and change its neural circuits in response to environmental experience and cellular activity.

Just Right Challenge

An activity demand that requires effort and engages a child's emerging abilities without overwhelming them or being too simple.

Praxis

The cognitive and neural ability to conceptualize (ideate), plan, and execute a novel or nonhabitual motor act.

Somatodyspraxia

A sensory integrative deficit characterized by impaired motor planning paired with deficits in tactile and proprioceptive sensory perception.

Agency

A child's ability to initiate voluntary motor actions to control aspects of an activity or event through their own actions.

Prospectivity

The motor control capability to plan movements in advance and anticipate upcoming task demands and environmental consequences.

The Umbrella of Occupation

A conceptual framework illustrating how fundamental theories inform occupation-centered models of practice (such as MOHO, PEOP, and CanMOP), which are further operationalized by frames of reference.