School Readiness & Academic Assessment

Child Assessment & Testing - Academic Achievement Ability

Academic achievement ability refers to a child's accomplishment level and the extent of learning that has been achieved within a learning environment. In other words, how much basic academic skills a child has at any given stage. These skills are defined as reading, writing, arithmetic skills and comprehension.

While children acquire academic skills at different rates (some are fast learners and others may take a little longer to learn), there are expected norms that children should achieve by a certain age. Performance above the expected level may indicate superior learning ability, whereas significantly below the expected level may suggest learning disability. Our academic assessments can help you identify at stage your child is at.

WHAT WE OFFER

At CPAC we offer detailed and individual assessment of academic abilities. This means that our child psychologist will test your child one-on-one and will make sure that he/she is engaging with the activities. This will produce the most representative result of your child's academic skills.

We also prepare professional and detailed reports that will assist both parents and teachers to plan for children's academic future. The assessment results may be used to help decision making about special education programs, enrichment, extension or acceleration programs. Our reports are recognised by the Board of Studies and also accepted by international schools aboard.

If you are concerned that your child might be suffering from a learning disability, please follow the link here.

Measuring intellectual ability

Measuring general achievement ability is in some ways similar to the measurement of intellectual ability . Tests of general achievement are divided into separate subtests that aim to assess different academic skills. Each skill domain consists of a number of subtests, as in testing reading ability may include word reading, reading comprehension and word decoding. Achievement ability is determined by the calculation of composite scores (skill domains) and a final average score. Classifications of achievement ability are as follows:

TESTS AND SPECIFIC SUBJECT AREA

In most cases, simple achievement tests are appropriate to screen children's accomplishment levels. For example, the Wide Range Achievement Test - 3 (WRAT-3) contains one subtest for each reading, spelling and arithmetic skills, but yields reliable and sound results. Similarly, the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test - 2nd Edition - Abbreviated version (WIAT-II-A) relies on one subtest per domain to calculate children's reading, spelling and numerical operations abilities.

In other cases, especially with learning difficulties in specific domains, certain subject areas may need to be tested in detail. For example, when a general assessment identifies difficulty with spelling it is necessary to test for associated areas such as written expression and listening comprehension. It is also appropriate and advised to use more than one test to assess that specific domain.

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT ABILITY AND ACTUAL SCHOOL PERFORMANCE

In most cases test results of achievement ability reliably predict school performance. However, there are a number of factors that parents need to take into account when they think about test results.

First, achievement ability only reflects a child's academic performance at the time of testing and in some cases can change over time. Contextual factors, such as family difficulties, relocation, illness, divorce and so on, can effect children's motivation to learn and can improve or hinder what they can accomplish. For example, a child growing up in a disruptive family environment may perform on a level that indicates low achievement ability, but after improved circumstances he/she may begin to pay more attention and develop more interest in academic tasks and perform better.

Second, test results of achievement ability are based on the performance of children who comprised the original sample. Schools, on the other hand, can differ in their composition of students who may not reliably compare to a given test's sample characteristics. Therefore, a child may perform relatively low/high on an achievement test, but his/her actual school performance may still be higher/lower than his/her class mates' results.

Child Assessment & Testing - Giftedness

Giftedness refers to having exceptional intellectual abilities, as measured by standardised IQ tests. Generally an Intelligence Quotient (IQ) of 130 and above is required to identify a gifted child. This equals to an intellectual ability that is better than 95% of children at the same age level.

While IQ test scores alone are sufficient to identify exceptional intellectual ability, there are certain characteristics that set gifted children apart from others. These include advanced vocabulary, exceptional reading ability, independence and strive for independence, exceptional memory and attentiveness, creativity, ability to exercise constructive self-criticism, keen sense of humour and advanced social skills.

WHAT WE OFFER

We offer professional assessment of giftedness with specialist child psychologists. We provide recommendations to parents and schools and provide assistance with planning for your child's future. We are happy to discuss your concerns and we are willing to contact school teachers and principals to advocate your child's best interest.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO RECOGNISE GIFTED CHILDREN?

Within the scientific community there is a considerable lack of consensus about what is giftedness and what is talent. Professor Francoys Gagne, a French-Canadian psychologist, defined gifted and talented children as:

"A gifted child is a child who has ability (potential) to perform in any domain of human ability, at a level we would more usually expect of students some years older. A talented child is a child who is actually achieving or performing at a level we would more usually expect of students some years older."

According to this definition, giftedness is considerably more difficult to identify than talent. Giftedness is the raw ability, while talent is using and acting upon such ability. This is why many gifted children are overlooked at home and within the educational system. It is difficult to directly observe giftedness as teachers and parents can only observe a child's behaviour and interaction with others. Although there are hints and observable signs that a child is different from his/her peers, without formal knowledge of ability level these signs are easy to misinterpret.

Early identification of giftedness can help children with their learning experience and motivation. In other words, nurturing and supporting giftedness can later translate into real talent where children learn to apply and use their abilities and live up to their full potential. When gifted children "slip under the radar" and fail to learn the skill of self-motivation, they can develop complacency, avoidance of challenges and may develop an attitude toward learning that will hinder their long term development.

IDENTIFYING GIFTED CHILDREN

The first step in idetifying giftedness is evaluating a child's raw intellectual ability. This process involves comparing a child's performance on an IQ test to the performance of other children of the same age and sex on the same tasks. Due to the standardisation process of IQ tests, children of the same age and sex are expected to perform similarly. A performance that is notably above the average indicates exceptional cognitive (thinking) abilities.

Apart from IQ, it is also necessary to observe a child's behaviour and approach to the process of assessment and test items. Testing behaviour of gifted children often include the following characteristics:

• They often misbehave or show lack of motivation when tasks are too easy and fail to stimulate them. These children gradually become more interested in the testing process as the difficulty of tasks increases.



• They may approach test items in unusual and imaginative ways or repeatedly ask questions about subtests to clarify their meaning.
  
  
• They may try to engage the interviewer in conversations about different topics the subtest reminded of them.

Incorporating these behavioural characteristics is important at the scoring stage. You will find that our reports include a substantial section dedicated to describing testing behaviour, and where appropriate we include this in our conclusion.

Equally important is the information provided by parents and teachers. Early development, reaching milestones, interaction with others, behavioural characteristics all contribute to the identification of a gifted child. Gifted children may not show any behavioural characteristics during the assessment and often the parental observations and teachers' reports are the only sources of information.

EDUCATIONAL OPTIONS FOR GIFTED CHILDREN

Gifted children need help. Children are not adults, and despite their extraordinary abilities gifted children still lack depth of insight and objectivity. To maintain their academic involvement and interest in the learning process, schools provide various options for gifted students.

The most common options are enrichment and ability grouping. Enrichment (as the term suggests) refers to enriching or adding to the standard work load. This may include additional work at the child's current grade level or at a higher level, tapping into the requirements of a higher grade. Ability grouping is the attempt to bring children of similar ability and interest together regularly and provide them with a unique learning experience. This may take place daily or at set times during the school week.

When children's abilities are highly advanced and their social maturity is also beyond their age level, schools may consider partial or grade acceleration. Grade acceleration refers to advancing children to a higher grade in all subject areas. Partial acceleration refers to advancing children to a higher grade only within the subject areas of particular talent, such as English or maths.

While acceleration is a viable option for gifted children, schools are understandably reluctant to offer it to parents. Being one to two years younger than one's class mates may not be a problem while children are young, but could lead to significant difficulties during the later years, particularly around the time of pubescence. When acceleration is discussed it is extremely important to keep children's long term interest in mind and see if other options may work better.

More information on Gifted Education is available in the Guidelines for Accelerated Progression by the NSW Board of Studies.

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT ABILITY AND ACTUAL SCHOOL PERFORMANCE

Gifted children need help. Children are not adults, and despite their extraordinary abilities gifted children still lack depth of insight and objectivity. To maintain their academic involvement and interest in the learning process, schools provide various options for gifted students.

The most common options are enrichment and ability grouping. Enrichment (as the term suggests) refers to enriching or adding to the standard work load. This may include additional work at the child's current grade level or at a higher level, tapping into the requirements of a higher grade. Ability grouping is the attempt to bring children of similar ability and interest together regularly and provide them with a unique learning experience. This may take place daily or at set times during the school week.

When children's abilities are highly advanced and their social maturity is also beyond their age level, schools may consider partial or grade acceleration. Grade acceleration refers to advancing children to a higher grade in all subject areas. Partial acceleration refers to advancing children to a higher grade only within the subject areas of particular talent, such as English or maths.

While acceleration is a viable option for gifted children, schools are understandably reluctant to offer it to parents. Being one to two years younger than one's class mates may not be a problem while children are young, but could lead to significant difficulties during the later years, particularly around the time of pubescence. When acceleration is discussed it is extremely important to keep children's long term interest in mind and see if other options may work better.

More information on Gifted Education is available in the Guidelines for Accelerated Progression by the NSW Board of Studies.

Child Assessment & Testing - Developmental Level and School Readiness

WHAT WE OFFER

We offer both school readiness assessment and school entry assessment. The goal of these tests can differ slightly. While a school readiness assessment is concerned whether a child is ready for school, a school entry assessment will provide information for teachers about a child's abilities. The focus is often on school readiness, so let's explore this further:

We offer sound, research based advice about school entry and expected outcomes. Although we encourage parents to make the final decision, we provide suggestions whether to pursue school entry or to hold children back. We provide a review of the different areas that may need further attention to ensure smooth transition to the school system. If your child is attending pre-school or childcare, we may ask permission to talk to pre-school teachers to gain more information about his/her functioning.

LANGUAGE

Language skills incorporate expressive and receptive language use. To perform in a school environment a child must be able to communicate with teachers (and the teacher must be able to communicate with the child) and with his/her peers. The emphasis here is on appropriate use of language, not necessarily word knowledge.

COGNITIVE SKILLS

Cognitive skills refer to a child's academic ability within the learning environment. It is the ability to learn new information, to be curious and eager to learn and to be able to use language for one's learning needs. A child needs to be able to concentrate and carry out instructions and integrate the new information presented by teachers. The emphasis here is on the mental/academic capacity to function within the school environment.

MOTOR SKILLS AND PHYSICAL HEALTH

Motor skills include fine motor skills, such as holding a pen or scissors, eye hand and motor coordination and gross motor skills, such as dressing, running and physical play activities. Additionally, physical health is important to attend school and meet learning requirements. Physical health not only refers to the child's health status, but his or her general well being, including nutrition, good sleep hygiene and regular exercise.

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL SKILLS

Social and emotional competence is an integral part of being in school and interacting with others. Although children are not required to possess complex social skills and attending school also teaches prosocial behaviour, before entering the school system children should have some level of social competence. Children are likely to do well in school if they generally positive and independent, willing to learn, can cope with setbacks, experience empathy towards others and able to build at least one or two significant relationships. In order to do so, children should be able to reason and express emotions (especially difficult emotions such as anger and frustration) on an age appropriate level, be able to engage in discussions with others and be able to compromise.

SELF HELP SKILLS

Self help skills refer to a child's ability to function without adult supervision. These include independent toileting, dressing, tying shoelaces, feeding or eating skills, putting toys and things away without being asked, offering help and knowing and following rules.

WHAT IF YOUR CHILD IS NOT SCHOOL READY?

Questions that parents often ask when their child seems to be behind in some developmental area are:

• would holding him/her back a year have a negative impact,
• isn't sending him/her to school would actually help him/her to develop these skills, and
• what do they need to do to prepare the child for school?

The answers to these questions are difficult, as each individual child is different and requires a different approach. However, when a child is not meeting most of the above listed developmental milestones, holding him or her back from school entry can be helpful, given that the parents are willing to put extra effort into preparing the child for school entry.

When helping a child to gain the necessary skills for school entry, parents should always keep in mind that focus should not be restricted to the developmental area they would like to improve, but should include all areas of the child's functioning. Most importantly, make sure that children held back from school entry remain in pre-school and have adequate level of social contact.

Child Assessment & Testing - IQ Testing for Children

Intelligence is a difficult concept to define and equally difficult to measure. It includes the ability to learn, curiosity, adaptation, reasoning ability, problem solving ability, attentiveness, memory, planning and organisational ability, analytic skills and visual skills. With so many different components it is not surprising that the measurement of intelligence has to be broad and has to include diverse areas of functioning.

Comprehensive Psychology administers IQ and academic assessments for children so that you can gain an understanding of your child's development and progression. Our kids IQ tests are based around the WISC-IV and the WPPSI-III models of intelligence testing in children.

WHAT WE OFFER

At CPAC we offer intellectual ability assessments for children over 2 years of age. We perform assessments for educational purposes, eligibility for specific programs, to determine giftedness or intellectual disability, as part of testing for learning disability and to generally evaluate children's intellectual functioning. We provide detailed descriptions of intellectual strengths and weaknesses and make appropriate recommendations.

The construct of intelligence

The broadest definition of intelligence is the ability to act or think in goal directed and adaptive ways within various domains of functioning. This definition promotes the idea that intelligence is transferable between different areas of functioning and assumes adaptability when situational demands arise.

Adaptive skills can be divided between three categories. These categories are not mutually exclusive, rather overlap and require the use of different skill sets interchangeably. While intelligence is more complex than mere adaptive skills, for easy understanding the following categories serve as a good guideline:

Problem Solving Ability

Problem solving involves the analysis of a problem, collecting and correctly interpreting relevant information, the ability to see different aspects of the problem and logical reasoning skills.

Verbal Ability

Verbal ability refers to skills such as reading and writing skills, speaking clearly and articulately, using language to deal effectively with people, sound knowledge of one or more particular fields, reading widely and having a good vocabulary. Social Competence

Social competence requires curiosity, punctuality, sensitivity to the needs of others, empathy or the accurate interpretation of others' emotional states and accurate social judgments.

Measuring intellectual ability

IQ refers to "Intelligence Quotient", or a numerical representation of one's intellectual level. Preschool and childhood IQ tests are developed to measure children's performance on different type of tasks that correspond with different developmental levels at a given age. Generally IQ tests yield results within specific categories, such as verbal and non-verbal abilities, working memory, processing speed and reasoning abilities. Each category contains different tasks that aim to test different aspects of the same mental construct. When children's final results are analysed, clinicians look for consistency and discrepancy between and within these constructs. This way it is possible to determine strengths and weaknesses and learning styles.

Regardless of the type of intelligence test used, the two main categories are always verbal and non-verbal abilities. Generally these two categories provide relatively "pure" measures of children's intellectual functioning because they are less susceptible to attention, memory and speed of mental processing.

Verbal Ability

The Verbal IQ measures general ability to reason, solve problems and recall important information presented in a verbal format (printed or spoken). The verbal IQ also reflects children's ability to explain verbal concepts clearly, provide rationale for their choices, and explain conceptual information. Verbal ability, measured by the verbal IQ, is one of the most accurate predictors of academic success in Western cultures because of the strong reliance on reading and writing in formal school programs.

Non-verbal Ability

Non-verbal IQ measures skills in solving abstract, visually oriented problems, recalling facts and figures, solving quantitative problems shown in picture form, assembling designs, and recalling visual sequences. The non-verbal IQ measures the ability to reason, solve problems and recall information presented in pictorial and symbolic form.

IQ scores are distributed evenly around a hypothetical concept, called the "normal curve" (see drawing). It means that most children will achieve scores around the centre (the peak of the curve) and equal proportion of children will achieve either below or above the normal range. Only a very small percentage of children will have extremely low and extremely high scores (the left and right ends of the curve).

CAN CHILDREN PRACTICE FOR AN IQ TEST?

Intelligence generally refers to "innate" abilities that tend to be stable over time. Practicing for an IQ test is not necessary and in most cases not possible. Although some components of IQ tests rely on learned knowledge, others measure conceptual thinking, reasoning ability, speed of mental processing, attention, memory and visual-spatial abilities. What we ask from parents is rather to make sure that their child is well rested before the assessment session, had a healthy breakfast, not overly anxious about the test and had an opportunity to discuss any questions or concerns with the parent.

THE STABILITY OF IQ OVER TIME

Intellectual ability is relatively stable over time. The most notable variation occurs early and late in life. Children may show the largest discrepancy between pre-school age and about age 7 years, after which IQ scores tend to gradually stabilise. This means that children tested at 3 years may show a notable difference if re-tested at age 7 years, but less likely to demonstrate a similar discrepancy between 7 years and their teenage years. Once reaching adulthood, cognitive ability and IQ scores tend to be stable and drop sharply after age 75 years.

Even if variation is probable during the early years, it is unlikely that the magnitude of difference will be large enough to dramatically change a child's intellectual category. The difference will still most likely remain within the same or adjacent category, as in a child who performed within the center of the Average range (IQ = 100) at age 3 years may perform at the upper end of the Average range (IQ = 107) or within the High Average range (IQ = 111) at age 7 years.

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