Misty's
Assessment/Testing Page
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| GENERAL INFORMATION |
| ASSESSMENT: What is assessment? ...well, to assess is to
determine the value, significance, or extent of any learning, knowledge, or
possible disorder/disability. Basically, all an assessment does is to
determine at what level a child is in their developmental adjustment or
learning curve when compared to local, state, or national norms.
More importantly, what is the PURPOSE of assessment? The main idea behind assessment is to determine whether or not a child requires extra help, or extra challenges. Assessment is a stepping stone that leads to intervention down the road. Assessments help in determining if a child needs something above and beyond the current tools available to them, or if the teacher needs to change a lesson plan, or if a school needs to change the curriculum. Assessment is just one of the first steps (another being observation/referral) in a long ladder that leads to better education. |
| TYPES of Assessment: |
| FOR PARENTS |
| If your child is being assessed by me, then I am including some information for you on this page. Please note that if there is anything that I have not answered on this page, do not hesitate to contact me at mlsommer@kent.edu and I will try to return your email as promptly as possible. |
| Q. What is the purpose of this activity that you are
planning on doing/have done with my child? A. Each assessment activity we are assigned has a different purpose, but the thing they all have in common is that they are tests we will eventually use in the real world. The purpose of doing them now, is to practice them until we have mastered the most accurate and valid way of administering these tests. |
| Q. What kind of class requires this kind of an assignment? A. This assignment is required in my courses as a Graduate Student in the School Psychology program at Kent State University. I am currently taking: SPSY-67955 Psychoeducational Assessment SPSY-67972 Non-Normative Assessment |
| Q. When will I know the results of the assessment? A. Unfortunately, since I am a graduate student, I cannot claim to be an expert at interpreting the results of these tests. This is the reason that we are practicing them in our courses. For this reason, I am not legally permitted to give you any results of the tests, because any mistakes that I make in scoring the test could be misleading. |
| Q. If I can't know the results, then what happens if there
really is a problem? Will you tell me if my child might need help? A. It would be unethical for me not to let you know if I suspect that your child has a learning or behavioral problem. But, as I said previously, I cannot claim to be an expert at scoring the results of these assessments and my results could be wrong. If I do suspect that something could be holding your child back from his full potential, then I will recommend that he/she be retested by a more qualified person (a school psychologist from your school district). |
| Q. Are you using my child for an assessment because you
think something is wrong with him? A. There is no need to worry. Most children are used in our assessments either because they have volunteered, or because they are easy to schedule. If there are any problems that you feel concerned about already, you can feel free to bring them up to me, and I will try my best to address those issues during the assessment that I give. The purpose of this activity is strictly to give us practice, so that we can master the 'art' of administering tests. |
| TIPS (for those giving assessments) |
| Organizational tips: COLOR CODE! Use a different color pen in your notes for each part of your assessment so that you can easily separate sections of your notes when referring back to them. (Example, use black for teacher interview notes, blue for parents, and purple for children, that way you can use the same notepad/folder for all of your notes. When you notice that the child says something that the parent also said, you can use purple and put a star on the parents notes next to that same comment.) Another idea is to use different colored pocket folders. Keep each separate part of the assessment (interview, test, CBA, etc.) in a different folder. Use colors that you can put in order, like colors of the rainbow, or go from red (hot) to yellow (warm) to blue (cold) for order. This helps you keep your information in order during the assessment until you have to combine it together into a report. (No child likes to wait around while you shuffle through papers trying to figure out what comes next). |
| DOWNLOADS and RESOURCES |
| http://www.interventioncentral.org/tools.shtml - This site has Reading probes, mathematics worksheet generator, CBA assessment list builder, CBM progress monitoring charts, etc... |
| http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~behavior/forms/observation.pdf - Functional Assessment Observation Form |
| http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~behavior/forms/protocol.pdf - FBA-BSP Interview for Teachers/Staff/Parent |
| http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~behavior/forms/brief.pdf - Brief behavior report sheet for Teacher |
| http://www.elbert.k12.ga.us/exceptional/Teacherdocs/Teacher_Interview.PDF - Teacher Interview for Psychoeducational Assessment |
| LINKS |
|
http://dibels.uoregon.edu/ - official DIBELS information page from the
University of Oregon https://dibels.uoregon.edu/measures/download.php - Reading Probe downloads |
| http://www.allkindsofminds.com - information about how different each child is, by Dr. Mel Levine. This also has some links to observation tables and self-report sheets that are useful in assessment. |
| http://www.aseba.org/index.html - Official site of the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment |
| http://www.depravityscale.org/ - This is very interesting. They are trying to establish a rating scale for Evil. Technically termed "The Depravity Scale". Haven't looked at it in detail yet... |
| http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~goodyea/EDCO644A/Newman.htm - An interesting article on the effects of 'results' on subjects. (I sometimes wonder if being told that you are depressed might make you more depressed, or make you feel better because someone else validates your feelings. I would love to see more research on that.) |
| REFERENCES AND FURTHER INFO |
|
Assessment of Children: Cognitive
Applications. Sattler, J.S. (2001). Sattler Publishing: LaMesa, CA. Assessment of Children: Behavioral and Clinical
Applications, 4th Ed. The Assessment of Child and Adolescent Personality |
| Academic Skills Problems : Second Edition: Direct
Assessment and Intervention Edward S. Shapiro Hardcover, 1996 Academic Skills Problems Workbook Behavioral Assessment in Schools: Second Edition: Theory, Research, and
Clinical Foundations Conducting School-Based Assessments of Child and Adolescent Behavior |
| Curriculum based measurement: Assessing special children.
Shinn, M.R. (1989). New York: Guilford. Advanced applications of curriculum-based
measurement.. |
*** Disclaimer ***
I do not have, or claim to have, a Ph.D., an Ed.S., or M.S. in psychology. I have an M.S. degree in Education with a focus on School Psychology. Before making important decisions based off of this information, it is suggested that you consult a qualified professional (physician/psychologist) to confirm that this information is accurate and up-to-date. Thank you!