Norms were established for the Halstead Neuropsychological Test Battery for Children and the Reitan-Indiana Neuropsychological Test Battery for Children in the Laboratory of Medical Psychology at the University of Chicago, based on data collected between 1960 and 1969. Samples for the HNTBC included children age 9 to 15 (N=170) and for the RINTBC children age 5 to 9 (N=43), drawn from a normal urban population. Validation of the norms was established by comparison with the mean scores of clinical referrals, and a population described as “cerebral dysfunction.” These norms offer reference points and contribute to the assessment of the degree of neuropsychological impairment in individual cases ranging from age 5 through age 15, as measured by these tests. From 1935 to 1969 Ward C. Halstead conducted a long series of inquiries into higher human brain functions at his laboratory at the University of Chicago. He termed this field of study “medical psychology.” and “biopsychology.” The set of tests which he developed, the Halstead Battery of Neuropsychological Tests, proved to be valid, reliable and sensitive to various types of brain dysfunctions or impairment in adult patients and has shown some usefulness in discriminating among levels of brain-behavior functioning in normal adult populations (Chapman and Wolfe, 1959; Halstead, 1947; Reitan, 1955;Shure, 1958). In 1953 Ralph Reitan at Indiana University Medical Center modified Halstead's tests, simplifying them while maintaining the same basic tasks, so as to create a battery appropriate for younger subjects, ages 9 to 14. The Halstead Neuropsychological Test Battery for Children (NHTBC) yielded highly significant results in comparison of normal and brain-damaged children (Reed, Reitan and Klove, 1965) and was used in a number of investigations including studies of blind children (Norris, Spaulding and Brodie, 1957), cerebral dysfunction (Halstead and Rennick, 1966), very low birthweight prematures (Hughes, Note 1), and cerebral lesions in young children (Reitan, 1974). The utility of the HNTBC suggested the extension of the methodology to even younger age groups. Reitan also undertook this task and in 1958 he developed functionally equivalent tests for younger children, ages 5 to 9. The battery of necessity varied considerably in content as well as in difficulty, but was designed to provide measurements of abilities comparable to those required by the Halstead batteries. The Reitan-Indiana Neuropsychological Test Battery for Children (RINTBC) included the Tapping test, a simplified Category Test (with responses keyed to four colors rather than numerals), and nine simple tests of spatial-perceptual ability, eye-hand coordination, and shape and size discrimination. The nine tests are: Progressive Figures Test, Matching Figures, Matching V's, Matching Pictures, Target Test Color Form Test, Marching Star and Concentric Squares. A rather simple examination for aphasia was also routinely given to children in both age ranges; the test represents a modification of the Halstead-Wepman Aphasia Screening Test. In addition, a series of tests for evaluating sensory-perceptual functions, across modalities of tactile, auditory, and visual functions, was included. A brief description of these various tests was provided by Reitan and Heineman(1968). These modifications were used routinely in the Halstead Laboratory of Medical Psychology at the University of Chicago, and during the decade of the sixties, considerable case material which had accumulated was studied, providing the data to be reported here. In Chicago, we referred to the tests by the convenient shorthand terms: “the Intermediate Battery” (for HNTBC, ages 9 to 14) and the “Child Battery” (for RINTBC, ages 5 to 9).
Search from 250 M+ research papersSearch from 250 M+ research papers
Jan 1, 1989
L Egel + 1
Open Access