The assessment of problem-solving skills of atypical children

Abstract

Procedures are delineated for assessing children's problem solving-skills to determine the stimuli that control responding during discrimination acquisition. Emphasis is placed upon: (a) requiring children to respond overtly rather than covertly during problem-solving; and (b) analyzing incorrect as well as correct responses in terms of their relationship with the various dimensions of the complex stimuli involved in the learning task. Examples of error analyses and complex stimulus analyses are presented. It is indicated that problem solving skills of children are now more frequently recorded as a result of a developing measurement technology that provides methods for determining if children are responding to the stimuli designated by the environment as corrent and, if not, to what other stimuli they respond. Information provided by such a learning-based assessment directly leads to the development of intervention techniques.