Welsh Final

Early research on intelligence tests did not appropriately assess which important concept related to linguistically and culturally diverse individuals

validity

In addition to English language proficiency, what other major variable confounds the results of performance on IQ tests in linguistically and culturally diverse individuals?

knowledge acquired through acculturation

Which of the following methods of assessment, when used with English learners, results in a valid estimate of cognitive abilities.

none of the options listed results in valid results

What might the authors say to a psychologist who uses the WISC-V Nonverbal Index as a valid estimate of intellectual ability for English Learners?

it is not a good predictor of academic performance of EL

What is the biggest problem noted in assessing English Learners with cognitive tests?

normative data stratified by language proficiency does not exist

True or False: There is a large body of research on native English speakers that can be used to assess English Learners

true

English learners regularly produce scores _____ points lower in verbal tests than native English speakers.

15-20

Which of the following was recommended by the authors as a "best practice" for testing English Learners?

As a first step, conduct the intellectual assessment according to standardized procedures in English

What is meant by a "Cross-linguistic confirmation".

Confirming cognitive deficits in English are also present when the task is administered in the client's native language

What is the role of contextual information in an assessment of cognitive abilities?

To obtain corroborative evidence of testing results in different settings, informants, or work samples

Be familiar with the name of the book that guides expectations for test developers, researchers, and practitioners

Standards for Educational and Psychological testing [AERA] 2014.

Be familiar with the definition of fairness.

. treating people justly, not letting your personal feelings bias your decisions about others.

Includes accessibility to all test takers and Universal Design

What is the assumption of comparability?

When we test students using a standardization device and compare them to a set of norms to gain an index of their relative standing, we assume that the students we test are similar to those on whom the test was standardized; that is, we assume that their acculturalization is comparable, but not necessarily identical, to that of the students.

Why is "nonverbal testing" considered a misnomer?

It should be referred to as language-reduced testing/assessment. This is because no matter what a test is like, its use in any evaluation requires that the examiner and examinee be able to communicate with each other.

Understand why it is problematic to use nonverbal testing as a measure of general intelligence in the context of diagnosing Specific Learning Disorder (SLD) p. 692 (in the third paragraph under Nonverbal Testing)

1. It might not be as fair or valid.

2. They are narrower than that measured by verbal batteries, despite correlations with border measures of intelligence.

3. The majority of referrals for SLD evaluation are based on problems in language arts, particularly reading.

4. These tests are also subject to the same problems with norm sample representation as those that exist for verbal tests.

Know the range of situations where a nonverbal measure of cognitive ability might be useful.

Could prove useful with someone with Autism, deafness, dementia, selective mutism, brain damage, or a learning disability.

Understand the author's position on the difference between general ability measured by nonverbal tests and "nonverbal ability".

General ability includes the aspects of verbal and nonverbal, not as separate forms of intelligence, but as one in the same.

. Nonverbal ability is a mistake on the part of scientists believing that nonverbal and verbal abilities are two distinct areas of intelligence.

Understand why Wechsler thought that nonverbal tests of ability would be useful.

He thought it would help in the reduction of diagnosis of Feeblemindedness from the subtests, he believed, were verbal.

What are three possible methods used to administer the directions for nonverbal tests?

1. Administer the test following standardization directions.

2. Using additional directions as needed after the standardization directions are used.

3. Gives the examiner flexibility to communicate the demands of the task in any form.

Understand the ruling of the case McFadden v. Board of Education for Illinois School District U-46 (2013) and whether research conducted after the ruling yielded better results.

The ruling was that testing that demanded knowledge of English contributed to the under-representation of hispanic students in gifted education. The research held some interesting data and seemed to allow for more people to initially join the programs of giftedness, but then the same students appeared to revert back to before they were admitted to the program.

What is the mean and standard deviation of the WNV subtests? What is the name of the standard score and what is the rationale for using this standard score versus the typical "deviation IQ"?

Mean = 50; SD = 10

. Full Scale Score. The individual subtests had a sufficient range of raw scores to allow for the use of T scores, which have a greater range and precision than scaled scores.

Understand what the WNV measures. More specifically, what do the authors of this chapter suggest that it measures - does it measure general ability, nonverbal ability, or other ability domains?

General ability

Know which disorders would warrant memory testing with the Wechsler Memory Scale - Fourth Edition (WMS-IV).

TBI, stroke, epilepsy, intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities, and autism spectrum disorder.

What are the three constructs of learning and memory that are assessed by the WMS-IV and the definition of each

encoding, storage or consolidation, and retrieval of info.

Know the difference between short-term and long-term memory and which WMS-IV subtests measure both types of memory.

Short Term memory: brief, temporary storage of information, lasting from a few seconds to a few minutes.

. Long Term memory: more permanent memories that last from hours to years.

. The measures: Logical memory, Verbal Paired Associations, Designs, and Visual Reproduction.

Know the difference between short-term memory and working memory.

. Short-term memory is the capacity to recall a small amount of information from a recent time period. Long-term memory is the capacity to recall memories from a longer time ago.

What is the name of the verbal short-term storage system in working memory?

Phonological loop

What type of long-term memory is primarily assessed by the WMS-IV?

explicit episodic memory

Be familiar with the three domains of adaptive functioning

Conceptual, Practical, and Social.

In addition to the DSM-5-TR (American Psychiatric Association), know what other organizations put out diagnostic criteria that are used in the diagnosis of Intellectual Disability (ID)

APA, AAIDD, WHO, IDEA, and SSA

In addition to the deficits being present prior to age 18, what are the two other criteria for Intellectual Disability?

Intellectual functioning and Adaptive functioning impairment.

Know what percentage of cases are defined as "mild intellectual disability"

85%

Understand the IQ threshold as defined by the DSM5

70 points on the IQ test.

Know the two broad confounding factors that should be considered when diagnosing intellectual disability

1. Competing hypotheses regarding the appropriate diagnosis

2. Construct-irrelevant influences that reduce the validity of the assessment results.

Which neurodevelopmental disorder is considered by the authors as possibly the most challenging differential or co-occurring diagnosis to make?

autism spectrum disorder

Be able to recognize some examples of construct-irrelevant influences for Intellectual Disability

Stable: Sensory impairments, physical impairments, and speech and language impairments.

. Transient: fatigue, interfering behavioral topographies, illness, motivation, and mood lability.

Be familiar with the IDEA definition of Specific Learning Disability (SLD)

"A disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical equations. Such terms include such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia."

Be familiar with the ways that Specific Learning Disability (SLD) has been operationally defined as a discrete condition.

"impeding the progress of normal academic procedures" (p.609)

It does allow for more identification and classification of the disorder to occur.

Understand what the "discrepancy criterion" means in the context of the oldest operational definition of SLD

It created a whole host of problems and issues within the eyes of traditional achievement-ability understanding.

What theory of intelligence do the authors endorse as their theory for providing an operational definition of SLD

Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) Theory

Know what DD/C stands for in the context of the chapter

Dual-Discrepancy/Consistency. (Operational definition of SLD)

What are the three permissible methods for evaluating SLD according to the U.S. Department of Education regulations, and which method does the DD/C approach fall in?

1. Traditional ability-achievement discrepancy

2. Response to intervention

3. Alternative research-based approaches

Be familiar with the 5 elements that are central to the operational definition of arriving at an SLD diagnosis through the DD/C method.

1. Academic ability analysis

2. Evaluation of mitigating and exclusionary factors

3. Cognitive ability and processing analysis

4. Pattern of strengths and weaknesses (PSW) analysis

5. Evaluation of interference with learning for purpose of special educational eligibility

What type of assessment relevant information is already likely available before the student receives a diagnostic evaluation by the psychologist?

CBM, progress monitoring, informal testing, direct observation of behaviors, work samples, reports from people familiar with the child's difficulties, and information provided by the child by him/herself.

Why is poor performance on academic achievement not sufficient, in and of itself, to constitute a diagnosis of SLD?

there could be a number of things to have caused the deficit, rather than a learning disability. As such, it is imperative to go through all of the tests, rather than simply basing the entire Diagnosis on one singular test.

Understand how the authors operationally define "weakness" vs. "normative weakness" and what do the authors specifically mean when referring to "ecological validity" as a determining factor for "weakness"?

Understand the relationship of Level 1 and Level 2 of the DD/C method.

In Level 3, the authors place significant emphasis on the requirement to have cognitive or neuropsychological reasons underlying the SLD - why is this?

Understand the relationship between the four conditions central to the DD/C model. This is the core of the theory and essentially a decision-making model about whether or not a student meets criteria for SLD as defined in IDEA (2004). Be familiar with the following concepts:

PSW

Pattern of Strengths and Weaknesses analysis

Average ability to think and reason

Weakness vs. normative weakness in academic performance

Domain-specific weakness

Unexpected Underachievement (why is it unexpected?)

What is discrepancy 1 (D1)

What is discrepancy 2 (D2)

What does the consistency refer to? (C)

Of the options listed by the author, what is the most biased assessment of LCD and the least biased methods.

How far below native English speakers do non-native English speakers score on tasks that require verbal or language-based skill?

What is important about the relationship of construct validity and the phrase "difference or disorder"?

Understand the purpose of the C-LTC and C-LIM

C-LTC: initially developed as an extension of the CHC theory. Flanagan and Ortiz created it to be a classification system for cognitive ability tests based on two critical test dimensions: degree of cultural loading and degree of linguistic demand

C-LIM: came about shortly after the C-LTC in order to refine it and specifically designed to aid in interpretation by allowing practitioners to assess whether or not what is measured is due primarily to the influence of cultural or linguistic variables

The difference between reliability of intelligence tests and validity of intelligence tests make all the difference when it comes to understanding the limitations of both research and practice on evaluating the linguistically and culturally diverse population (LCD). In the first few pages of the chapter, this difference is discussed. Understand why validity is the preferred approach to understanding limitations with testing and how reliability was erroneously measured in the early research.

From a strict psychometric standpoint, a measure can be considered valid or not, depending on whether there is sufficient evidence to support it one way or another. Viewing validity as shades of gray instead of as a dichotomous concept is easily forgiven in light of the fact that practitioners are simply trying to do whatever can be done to actually evaluate the success of their efforts in establishing validity. The use of a particular method or strategy may lead practitioners to assume that their validity has been increased or maintained but typical methods simply do not permit independent verification that this is in fact the case.

There are two major confounding influences that directly impact the performance of the linguistically and culturally diverse on tests of intellectual functioning that must be assessed and accounted for - be able to identify these two confounding variables.

Understand why modifying test administration, such as allowing or lengthening subtest time, altering instructions, accepting responses in languages other than English, and repeating or translating instructions in one's native language, is not the preferred method of testing linguistic and culturally diverse students.

Nonverbal tests of intelligence are widely used as a method for assessing linguistically and culturally diverse (LCD) children. However, the authors believe that the use of specific nonverbal tests of intelligence (such as a battery designed exclusively for nonverbal assessment or the NVI on the WISC) is an inadequate solution to testing the LCD population. Understand the argument presented in this section of the chapter.

Also, in the discussion on the Nonverbal Methods of Evaluation, the authors note one problem related to norming and standardization that fails to provide appropriate comparison data for a segment of the population directly relevant to testing individuals with differing language abilities - understand what this limitation is.

The authors list a number of complexities and limitations for testing in the student's native language.

Following this discussion, the authors recommend that intellectual testing of LCD students should initially be conducted in English. Understand the primary rationale for this recommendation.

Research has consistently shown that English Learners perform lower on verbal and nonverbal ability tests by a predictable amount - know this range for both verbal and nonverbal cognitive tests.

The authors present a rationale for best practices that includes administering the English version of the IQ test according to standardized assessment procedures and then to follow-up below average findings with a similar assessment of weaknesses in the student's native language. Understand the rationale for this recommended practice.

Understand what the author means by a "Cross-linguistic confirmation".

In the section beginning on page 564, the author discusses how "contextual" information is used to validate test findings. Understand what is meant by this.