Psychometric Approach
Intelligence – enables people to acquire, remember, and use knowledge; to understand concepts and
relationships; and to solve everyday problems.
Intelligent Behavior – presumed to be goal oriented, meaning it exists for the purposes of attaining a goal;
adaptive in that it helps an organism adjust to the varying circumstances of life.
Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon – devised a way to identify children who could not handle academic work
and needed special instruction. The test they created became a forerunner of psychometric tests that score
intelligence by numbers.
Goals of psychometric testing - to measure quantitatively the factors that are thought to make up intelligence
(such as comprehension and reasoning) and, from the results of that measurement, to predict future performance
(such as school achievement).
IQ (intelligence quotient) tests - consist of questions or tasks that are supposed to show how much of the
measured abilities a person has by comparing that person’s performance with
norms established by a large group of test-takers who were in the standardization sample.
1. Testing Infants and Toddlers
1.1 Development Tests
since it is impossible to measure infants’ intelligence, we can test their functioning with developmental
tests.
These tests assess infants’ behavior on tasks and compare their performance with norms established
based on what large numbers of infants and toddlers can do at particular ages.
So, for example, if a child is unable to perform a task that the “average baby” can do by a particular
age, that child may be delayed in that area. By contrast, a baby can also be ahead of the curve by
performing better than her same-age peers.
1.2 Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development
developmental test designed to assess children from 1 month to 3½ years.
Scores on the
Bayley-III indicate a child’s competencies in each of five developmental areas: cognitive, language,
motor, social-emotional, and adaptive behavior.
Behavioral Rating Scale (optional) - can be completed by the examiner, in part based on information
from the child’s caregiver.
Separate scores, called developmental quotients (DQs), are calculated for each scale. DQs
are most commonly used for early detection of emotional disturbances and sensory,
neurological, and environmental deficits and can help parents and professionals plan for a
child’s needs.
2. Assessing the impact of the early home environment
2.1 Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME)
- Trained observers interview the primary caregiver and rate on a yes-or-no checklist the intellectual
stimulation and support observed in a child’s home,
- HOME scores are significantly correlated with measures of cognitive development.
- One important factor that HOME assesses is the quality of the home environment.
- This scale includes six subscales that measure the number of books and appropriate play materials in
the home, the parent’s involvement with the child, parental emotional and verbal responsiveness,
acceptance of the child’s behavior, organization of the environment, and opportunities for daily and
varied stimulation.
- Research shows that home quality is an important variable.
- parental responsiveness at 6 months has been positively correlated with IQ, achievement test scores,
and classroom behavior at 13 years of age.
- number of books in the home, the presence of playthings that encourage the development of concepts,
and parents’ involvement in children’s play. This is because learning stimulation has been consistently
associated with kindergarten achievement scores, language competence, and motor and social
development.
2.3 Early Intervention
- a systematic process of planning and providing therapeutic and educational services for families that need help
in meeting infants’, toddlers, and preschool children’s development needs.
- expensive, and assessment research is typically required to justify continued funding.
- these programs involve full-day, year-round early childhood education from infancy through the preschool
years as well as family-oriented social services, early childhood education, medical care and services, and
family education on child development.
- The most effective early interventions are those that:
1. start early and continue throughout the preschool years;
2. are highly time-intensive (that is, occupy more hours in a day or more days in a week, month,
or year);
3. are center-based, providing direct educational experiences, not just parental training;
4. take a comprehensive approach, including health, family counseling, and social services; and
5. are tailored to individual differences and needs.