Ch 1. Challenges in Assessing Children: Assessment Types and Methods

Vocabulary terms and definitions covering the core concepts, assessment types, testing principles, interview styles, and observational settings from Chapter 1 on assessing children.

Screening Assessment

A relatively brief evaluation intended to identify children who are at risk for developing certain disorders or disabilities, eligible for specific programs, in need of remediation, or requiring a more comprehensive assessment.

Focused Assessment

A detailed evaluation of a specific area of functioning that addresses diagnostic, skill, or etiological questions; also known as a problem-solving assessment.

Diagnostic Assessment

A detailed evaluation of a child's strengths and weaknesses across several areas (such as cognitive, academic, language, behavioral, personality, emotional, and social) to establish a diagnosis and suggest placements or interventions.

Counseling and Rehabilitation Assessment

An assessment that focuses on a child's abilities to adjust to and successfully fulfill daily responsibilities, including potential for recovery and responses to treatment.

Progress Evaluation Assessment

An assessment focusing on a child's progress over time to evaluate changes in development, skills, or abilities and the effectiveness of intervention procedures.

Curriculum-Based Assessment

An assessment that evaluates a student's progress in basic academic areas such as math, reading, writing, and spelling to inform current performance and needed interventions.

School Function Assessment

A detailed evaluation of a student's ability to participate in activities in various school settings, their need for supports, and their ability to function in school.

Psychological Testing

A narrow procedure that involves administering and scoring tests, focused primarily on collecting data to produce findings.

Psychological Assessment

A broad clinical process encompassing formal and informal tests, observations, and interviews focused on integrating, interpreting, and synthesizing results within the context of a child's life.

Four Pillars of a Multimethod Assessment

The core assessment procedures consisting of norm-referenced measures, interviews, behavioral observations, and informal assessment procedures.

Norm-Referenced Measures

Tests standardized on a clearly defined group that provide objective, quantitative scores scaled to reflect a rank relative to a peer norm group.

Norm Group

A sample of individuals representative of the population of interest with respect to characteristics such as age, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status (SES), and geographic region.

Unstructured Interviews

Open-ended assessment interviews without a set agenda of specific questions, designed to allow interviewees and interviewers to discuss problem areas in their own words.

Semistructured Interviews

Clinical interviews that provide a list of guided questions while allowing the focus of the interview to change as needed.

Structured Interviews

Rigid and comprehensive clinical interviews featuring a fixed list of questions usually designed to arrive at a psychiatric diagnosis.

Controlled Setting

A formal evaluation environment where an evaluator limits distractions and minimizes frustrations during a one-on-one assessment.

Applied Setting

A natural environment, such as a classroom, playground, or home, where a child faces real-world everyday demands.