Counseling Reliability and Validity

Counseling

Reliability/Validity

One test that is available to help with treating children who display extremely aggressive behavior is that of The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. The WISC is intended to gauge human intelligence as revealed in both verbal and nonverbal performance abilities. David Wechsler, the creator of the test, thought that intelligence has a worldwide worth that reflects a diversity of measurable skills. He also thought that it should be measured in the circumstance of the person's general personality. The WISC is utilized in schools as part of placement assessments for programs for gifted kids and for kids who are developmentally disabled (Assessing Children with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Third Edition, n.d.).

In addition to its utilization in intelligence assessments, the WISC is used in neuropsychological assessment, chiefly with regard to brain dysfunction. Large disparities in verbal and nonverbal intelligence might designate precise kinds of brain damage. The WISC is also utilized for other diagnostic functions. IQ scores accounted by the WISC can be utilized as part of the diagnostic criterion for mental retardation and precise learning disabilities. The test might also serve to better assess kids with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other behavior disorders (Assessing Children with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Third Edition, n.d.).

This test went through a lot of revisions which took into deliberation the proposals of test users, the suggestions of experts, and knowledge obtained throughout test pilots. The manual was developed to give very exact directives in regards to the administration of the test in order to increase reliability; nonetheless, it is not exact enough in the area of interpretation. Internal consistency seems at least as good as or better than, comparable tests, and the inter-scorer reliabilities on Verbal subtests are better than .92 due to examples, tables, and plain instructions provided in the manual. Even though the manual tries to be comprehensive, some of the scoring continues to be skewed. Inter-scorer reliabilities for the Performance subtests were not found (Assessing Children with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Third Edition, n.d.).

There is thought to be flaws in the test due to the utilization of extra points for performance pace. Due to the pace at which a child works can be influenced by many nonintellectual things such as the lack of sleep or sickness, the utilization of time bonuses may influence stability. Bonus points given for pace also increase the split-half reliability coefficients for those subtests and care should be used in explanation. In spite of these troubles, research has shown that reliability is at least sufficient or better on all subtests and IQ scores (Assessing Children with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Third Edition, n.d.).

A lot of research has been carried out to authenticate predictive, concurrent, and construct validity. High correlations have been found between the WISC-III and the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale: Fourth Edition. High correlations have been found between the WISC-III and the Wide Range Achievement Test - Third Edition (WRAT-3). Not enough research has been done to find out how supportive or valid the four factor analysis is pertaining to the evaluation and assignment of children with special needs (Assessing Children with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Third Edition, n.d.).

One reason that I might use this test is because it is a good test to utilize to evaluate children with behavior disorders. It has been determined that that intelligence has a global quality that can be used to look at many other factors in ones life, which makes this tests use very good in determining if behavior disorders are present due to brain dysfunctions. One reason that I might not use this test is because of the fact that there may be weaknesses due to the utilization of bonus points for performance pace. Because of this the results of the test may not be effective for what I am studying.

In a study done by Ripley and Yuill, (2005), Patterns of language impairment and behavior in boys excluded from school, expressive and receptive language issues in boys barred from primary and secondary schools, to examine the degree of harm, the outline of associations between age, receptive and expressive language, and associations with dissimilar aspects of behavior was evaluated. The final sample consisted of nineteen excluded boys, fourteen from secondary schools, and five from primary schools and the same number of age-matched controls. Causes for exclusion included verbal and physical violence, failure to follow rules, and other behavior troubles including possession of a dangerous weapon, and for one child, running away from school.

In this study The Word Definitions (WD) task from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children was utilized to tap a child's language expression. A child was given a sequence of words that they were to define. The words varied in difficulty and definitions were scored from 0 to 2. The test consisted of thirty items and testing was stopped after four successive failures. The Verbal Reasoning (VR) test from the WISC was also given. Children were given two items that belonged to a group, and they had to supply a category name. The test had nineteen items scored between 0 and 1, or 0 and 2, with a possible total score of thirty-three. Testing was stopped after four successive failures (Ripley and Yuill, 2005).

The children were tested independently in a quiet room by one of three female experimenters, who had been taught together on test administration. Tests were given in a fixed order, with the quantity of language necessary of the child escalating over the session, to permit children time to become as certain and relaxed as possible. Each test was preceded by practice items. The environment was kept relaxed and friendly (Ripley and Yuill, 2005).