Preschool Assessment

Author(s):  
Carleen Franz ◽  
Lee Ascherman ◽  
Julia Shaftel

This chapter describes the challenges that are unique to the assessment of the young child. A preschool child may not respond to standardized testing in a predictable way. A solid understanding of the developmental patterns of young children is necessary to accurately interpret evaluation results. The difficulties inherent in this process are described, as well as the benefits. The domains of the assessment process are outlined, including cognitive and learning ability, preacademic skill development, motor skills, and speech and language development. Issues related to behavior and attention are also addressed. Various approaches to preschool assessment are presented, including observational approaches in the natural setting as well as standardized testing, outlining benefits and cautions when working with this population.

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 350-354
Author(s):  
Martin Bax ◽  
Hilary Hart ◽  
Sue Jenkins

A clinical method of assessing speech and language development in preschool children is described. Sixty-two 3-year-old children were assessed by a pediatrician, a speech therapist, and a psychologist. In 55 children there was agreement between all three examiners. Three children with articulation problems were rated as having normal comprehensive and expressive language by the psychologist. Three children were rated as having normal speech and language development by the pediatrician and speech therapist but delayed by the psychologist; all three had behavior problems. One further child rated as having a speech and language problem by the pediatrician was rated as normal by the speech therapist and psychologist. It is concluded that pediatricians can make reliable assessments of speech and language development.


2007 ◽  
Vol 9 (15) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy R. Osborne ◽  
Carolyn B. Mervis

AbstractThe Williams–Beuren syndrome (WBS) locus on human chromosome 7q11.23 is flanked by complex chromosome-specific low-copy repeats that mediate recurrent genomic rearrangements of the region. Common genomic rearrangements arise through unequal meiotic recombination and result in complex but distinct behavioural and cognitive phenotypes. Deletion of 7q11.23 results in WBS, which is characterised by mild to moderate intellectual disability or learning difficulties, with relative cognitive strengths in verbal short-term memory and in language and extreme weakness in visuospatial construction, as well as anxiety, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and overfriendliness. By contrast, duplication results in severely delayed speech and expressive language, with relative strength in visuospatial construction. Although deletion and duplication of the WBS region have very different effects, both cause forms of language impairment and suggest that dosage-sensitive genes within the region are important for the proper development of human speech and language. The spectrum and frequency of genomic rearrangements at 7q11.23 presents an exceptional opportunity to identify gene(s) directly involved in human speech and language development.


Author(s):  
Merle Weßel

AbstractDespite being a collection of holistic assessment tools, the comprehensive geriatric assessment primarily focuses on the social category of age during the assessment and disregards for example gender. This article critically reviews the standardized testing process of the comprehensive geriatric assessment in regard to diversity-sensitivity. I show that the focus on age as social category during the assessment process might potentially hinder positive outcomes for people with diverse backgrounds of older patients in relation to other social categories, such as race, gender or socio-economic background and their influence on the health of the patient as well as the assessment and its outcomes. I suggest that the feminist perspective of intersectionality with its multicategorical approach can enhance the diversity-sensitivity of the comprehensive geriatric assessment, and thus improve the treatment of older patients and their quality of life. By suggesting an intersectional-based approach, this article contributes to debates about justice and diversity in medical philosophy and advocates for the normative value of diversity in geriatric medicine.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aldona Mazolevskienė ◽  
◽  
Ieva Pažusienė

Multimodal learning to read and write emphasises the transition from the conception of direct teaching/learning (ability to decode printed text written on the paper) to spontaneous and child-initiated learning in the playful environment, which would originate from the child’s wish to learn, experience and know. Thus, multimodal learning refers to the learning, which employs as many and as diverse ways of education as possible. They aim to promote children’s learning, memorising and comprehension, which most frequently manifest in children’s positive emotions, new experiences, improvement of learning process and its adaptation to creation of child-centred education system and its realisation in practice. The changing attitude towards learning to read and write obviously leads to strengthening of the tradition of multimodal learning in the Lithuanian kindergartens. The working methods and means applied by teachers, which allow creating educational environments taking into consideration individual needs of every child environments, have been undergoing changes. The conducted research revealed that pre-primary education groups provide children with favourable conditions for multimodal learning, which helps them not only to learn to read and write faster but also develop other skills: fine motor skills, thinking, creativity, social skills, etc.


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