Testing Children-A Practitioner's Guide to the Assessment of Mental Development in Infants and Young Children

Author: Phyllis Preston Hogrefe & Huber Publishers, 2005 US$29.95; pp144; ISBN: 978-0-88937-296-2 This book is written by an experienced psychologist specialising in the development of infants and young adults and aims to help practitioners to achieve accurate results and reach conclusions best suited to the particular needs of the child under assessment. The book is divided into 3 sections, with the first being an exploration of the nature of mental development. It discusses different theoretical perspectives of mental measurement, including the history of mental measurement, concept of the mind and psychology of communication. Key theoretical issues that are prerequisites for an effective assessment are highlighted. Useful examples based on day-to-day practice are quoted, e.g. reasons that should be considered when a child is uncooperative during tests. The second section is a guide to psychometrics. It includes the explanation of the essential statistics required to interpret test scores, specific information regarding the nature and function of measurements, the normal distribution curve and its relation to IQ values. There is also a chapter specifically introducing and comparing different tests of mental development. The last section focuses on the skills needed by practitioners for effective assessment of young children. The author explains how the very presence of the assessor has an impact on the assessment process both in terms of perceptual idiosyncrasies and in terms of the effectiveness with which the interpersonal dynamics between child, carer and assessor are managed. I found the last section of the book the most relevant and useful for professionals working with children. During assessment, all measurements are liable to errors and when these involve infants and children, errors are almost unavoidable. This is because their skills are not established and their attempts to display them are often of experimental nature. In the individual testing situation, both assessor and child are in a learning situation and liable to trial-and-error strategies. In this section common real-life examples depicted common pitfalls faced by inexperienced and even experienced practitioners, including the physical setting of interview, inadequate social skills to engage clients, parental influence on the child's behaviour during interview, and faulty recording of observations. The author gives useful suggestions on how to properly engage the young child without being overly solicitous or enthusiastic by effectively using particular words and phrases. …