"A psychoeducational assessment provides a snapshot of a student’s intellectual and academic functioning, both of which are in a continual and dynamic process of evolution."
The standardized tests yield subtest scores as well as composite scores derived from a combination of the subtests. A significant discrepancy between cognitive and achievement composite scores (if sufficiently low) is one indicator of a learning disability. Despite the limited evidence behind the validity of this discrepancy model, many schools and testing organizations are still using it to determine the presence of a disability and thus eligibility for special education services and accommodations. From a clinical standpoint, we at The Yellin Center are less concerned about overall scores and discrepancies and more concerned about what these tests tell us about individual strengths and weaknesses. These findings, combined with the results from our neurodevelopmental assessment, shed light on where a student’s skills stand in relation to one another and in relation to age norms. With this information, we can give students meaningful feedback about their cognitive and academic functioning as well as strategies to build on areas of strength and remediate or bypass areas of weakness.
Such a qualitative (rather than purely quantitative) approach is relatively new when considering the history of psychoeducational testing, particularly “intelligence” testing. In 1904, psychologist Alfred Binet was commissioned by the French government to find a way of differentiating, and then separating, those students who needed special education from those who did not. Working with Theodore Simon, Binet developed the Binet-Simon Scale, which became known as the first intelligence test. This test yielded a number representing a student’s “mental age,” and students were sorted on this basis. However, even after creating this test, Alfred Binet never believed that a person’s intelligence was a fixed quantity. To the contrary, he believed that cognitive abilities and intelligence could be developed. In 1916, Lewis Terman, a psychologist at Stanford University, revised the Binet-Simon Scale and standardized it using a sample of American participants. This test, which became known as the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, yielded an intelligence quotient (IQ) by dividing the test taker’s mental age by his or her chronological age. The Stanford-Binet test inspired Robert Yerkes’ development of the Army Alpha and Army Beta tests, which were used to screen and classify World War I army recruits based on their test scores. One of the people scoring these army tests was David Wechsler, who went on to become chief psychologist at Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital and wanted to gain a better understanding of his patients. In 1949, he developed the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC). Rather than yielding just one overall score, the WISC provided a verbal IQ and performance IQ score in addition to one composite IQ score.
The latest revision of the WISC (WISC IV), which is one of the cognitive test batteries we use at The Yellin Center, yields one composite full-scale IQ score as well as four index scores (Verbal Comprehension, Perceptual Reasoning, Working Memory, and Processing Speed), all derived from individual subtest scores. The achievement tests we administer similarly yield subtest scores as well as composite scores. All of this information, when considered together, helps to elucidate a student’s strengths and weaknesses, and does so in a way that is consistent with standards of school districts and testing organizations.
--Lindsay Levy, Ed.M.
Such a qualitative (rather than purely quantitative) approach is relatively new when considering the history of psychoeducational testing, particularly “intelligence” testing. In 1904, psychologist Alfred Binet was commissioned by the French government to find a way of differentiating, and then separating, those students who needed special education from those who did not. Working with Theodore Simon, Binet developed the Binet-Simon Scale, which became known as the first intelligence test. This test yielded a number representing a student’s “mental age,” and students were sorted on this basis. However, even after creating this test, Alfred Binet never believed that a person’s intelligence was a fixed quantity. To the contrary, he believed that cognitive abilities and intelligence could be developed. In 1916, Lewis Terman, a psychologist at Stanford University, revised the Binet-Simon Scale and standardized it using a sample of American participants. This test, which became known as the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, yielded an intelligence quotient (IQ) by dividing the test taker’s mental age by his or her chronological age. The Stanford-Binet test inspired Robert Yerkes’ development of the Army Alpha and Army Beta tests, which were used to screen and classify World War I army recruits based on their test scores. One of the people scoring these army tests was David Wechsler, who went on to become chief psychologist at Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital and wanted to gain a better understanding of his patients. In 1949, he developed the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC). Rather than yielding just one overall score, the WISC provided a verbal IQ and performance IQ score in addition to one composite IQ score.
The latest revision of the WISC (WISC IV), which is one of the cognitive test batteries we use at The Yellin Center, yields one composite full-scale IQ score as well as four index scores (Verbal Comprehension, Perceptual Reasoning, Working Memory, and Processing Speed), all derived from individual subtest scores. The achievement tests we administer similarly yield subtest scores as well as composite scores. All of this information, when considered together, helps to elucidate a student’s strengths and weaknesses, and does so in a way that is consistent with standards of school districts and testing organizations.
--Lindsay Levy, Ed.M.