INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT TESTING OF CHILDREN WITH LEARNING PROBLEMS: A CLINICAL GUIDE.

Abstract

Abstract This paper calls attention to the clinical value of standardized achievement tests in the individual evaluation of children with learning disabilities when these tests are interpreted within the framework of psychoanalytic ego-psychology. A number of aspects of test administration were considered: the choice from the wide variety of published tests, the sequence in which achievement tests are administered in the test battery, the selection of tests from within the achievement test battery, modifications in standard achievement test administration, supplementary exploration of idiosyncratic errors as well as the child's conception of the use of achievement skills. Methods of test analysis of derived scores, patterning of errors, and individual errors were illustrated. The diagnostic relevance of clinical behavior in the achievement testing situation was commented upon. The importance of integrating achievement test findings with the rest of the psychological test battery as well as with information from sources apart from testing was stressed. Finally, the heterogeneity of learning problems in children and the consequent importance of particularizing current status and etiology was emphasized.