Psychology 635
PSYC 631: Advanced Cognitive and Psychoeducational Assessment
Prerequisites: PSYC 631
Credit Hours: (3)
This course will present theoretical and practical issues relating to the cognitive and psychoeducational assessment of children and adolescents in school settings. A variety of assessment domains and techniques will be presented and discussed, including assessment of cognitive functioning for special populations (beyond that covered in PSYC 631), academic achievement, visual-motor assessment, assessment of behavioral and emotional disorders, assessment of persons with severe disabilities, and related topics. Techniques for interviewing and for integrative report-writing will also be presented and practiced.
Detailed Description of Course
(1) Overview of practical, statistical, and legal assessment responsibilities for school psychologists when working with children suspected of having disabilities; (2) Assessment strategies and techniques for assessing children suspected of having high and low incidence disabilities, including learning disabilities and intellectual disabilities; (3) Advanced cognitive and intellectual assessment, including use of nonverbal measures of intelligence; (4) Assessment of academic achievement in reading, mathematics, and written language using comprehensive, in-depth measures such as the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test; (5) Assessment of students with severe and multiple disabilities; (6) Assessment of students with social-emotional disabilities using self-reports, structured observations, interviews, and related techniques; (7) Assessment of skills related to academic proficiency, including visual-motor functioning; (8) Assessment of intelligence and cognitive processing using cross-battery assessment techniques (i.e., choosing selected portions of several intelligence measures to assess specific aspects of cognitive functioning), including implications of these techniques for assessing students from culturally-diverse backgrounds; and (9) Integrative report-writing
Detailed Description of Conduct of Course
The conduct of the course may be but is not limited to lectures; student presentations, guided practice with selected assessment instruments, group activities; guest speakers; and case studies
oals and Objectives of this Course
After successfully completing this course, the student will:
1. Be familiar with general issues related to the assessment of children and adolescents who experience behavioral, emotional, and learning problems in school, including characteristics and eligibility criteria for special education services;
2. Be able to describe and critique assessment practices and instruments that are appropriate for students experiencing academic, behavioral, and learning problems in relevant domains,including cognition, social-emotional functioning, reading, written language, and visual-motor skills;
3. Demonstrate competency in the administration, scoring, and interpretation of selected formal and informal measures of intellectual functioning, social-emotional functioning, and academic achievement in reading, written language, nonverbal intelligence, and related areas;
4. Demonstrate competency in clinical interviewing of teaching, parents, and students for the purposes of developing interventions;
5. Be familiar with basic issues of test construction and statistics;
6. Understand the impact of cultural diversity in administering and interpreting standardized and informal tests and other assessment procedures; and
7. Be able to write clear and concise reports that integrate the results of formal and informal assessment techniques across domains and which lead to behaviorally and educationally relevant suggestions for intervention.
Assessment Measures
Assessment may include but is not limited to grading rubrics for student presentations; grading rubrics for written integrative case study reports; student quizzes on assigned reading and material presented in class; and written critiques of selected testing instruments.
Other Course Information
None