CHILD DEVELOPMENT - INGRID SCHOON (CITY)

Early Childhood Development:Early Childhood Development:Importance of Preschool AssessmentImportance of Preschool Assessment

By three years of life, children:By three years of life, children:

have developed a foundation of personality and sense of world

are well versed in daily routines

have developed basic, functional language and grammar rules

By four years of age they have developed 50% of their adult intelligence

Cognitive Assessment of Preschool Cognitive Assessment of Preschool ChildrenChildren

Standardised Test InstrumentsStandardised Test Instruments

Direct assessment of the childDirect assessment of the child

Cover both verbal and non-verbal performance skills

Use of standardised test materials (test kit)

Should only be administered by qualified test administrators

Full test takes about 1 hour to complete

Cognitive Assessment of Preschool Cognitive Assessment of Preschool ChildrenChildren

Direct AssessmentDirect AssessmentSelection of Subscales of Standardised Test InstrumentsSelection of Subscales of Standardised Test Instruments

Should include both verbal and non-verbal subscales

Acceptable levels of reliability and validity are maintained

Less costly than acquiring full test kit

Takes less time than full assessment to administer

Training is still required

Cognitive Assessment of Preschool Cognitive Assessment of Preschool ChildrenChildren

PParent-based Assessmentarent-based AssessmentPARCA3 has been PARCA3 has been developed for the assessment developed for the assessment

of cognitive abilities of 3-year olds. Aims to of cognitive abilities of 3-year olds. Aims to separate non-verbal ability from verbal skills. separate non-verbal ability from verbal skills. Inventory consists of:Inventory consists of:

parent-report component (measuring spatial ability, planning, reasoning, memory, quantitative skills, pretend play and number) and

parent-administered component (find the pair, drawing, and matching – measuring number, size, shape, conceptual grouping, and orientation)

parent report of vocabulary (100-item vocabulary checklist of varying difficulty-level)

Cognitive Assessment of Preschool Cognitive Assessment of Preschool ChildrenChildren

Parent-based assessment of cognitive Parent-based assessment of cognitive

abilitiesabilities Advantages compared to traditional standardised tests:Advantages compared to traditional standardised tests:

Children do not have to perform for a stranger

Parental assessments can be administered via the post, and are thus particularly useful for research requiring large samples

Is more economical than in-person assessment

Is based on more extensive behavioural sampling

Does not require special training of interviewers

Cognitive abilities of young children can validly be measured via parent-based assessment

Cognitive Assessment of Preschool ChildrenCognitive Assessment of Preschool ChildrenParent-based assessment of cognitive abilitiesParent-based assessment of cognitive abilities

Disadvantages in comparison to tester based assessment:Disadvantages in comparison to tester based assessment:

Parent reports are prone to bias, forgetting and misinterpretation

Parental estimates do tend to yield higher means than scores based on standardised testing

Parents reports are valid over a wide, but not universal, range of education levels

Accuracy of parental reports might be distorted in certain clinical contexts

Lack of information regarding the role of potential cultural differences in affecting parent report

Options for Cognitive Assessment:

1) Direct Assessment using full standardised test   

2) Direct assessment using selected subscales

3) Parent-based assessment of cognitive abilities

4) Interviewer-based assessment using parent- based assessment instrument