Psychological assessment of a seventeen-year-old student's cognitive abilities

Julie\'s Psychological Assessment Report

The psychological assessment is defined as a process of using the combinations of techniques to test the hypothesis about an individual personality, behaviors, and capabilities. In other words, psychological assessment is synonymous to the psychological testing used to carry out the thorough assessment of the individual. Typically, a psychological professional develops a psychological assessment report to carry out an assessment of the current needs of individuals. The report can be the summary of the services delivered to a group or individuals. Moreover, the evaluation is carried out to assess the competencies, and abilities individual in different settings. Schools stakeholders and parents implement the psychological assessments for students to evaluate their cognitive and intellectual capabilities. The strategy will assist in understanding the intellectual and behavioral capabilities of students thereby placing them in the appropriate class category. Moreover, over 75% of organizations in the United States that control more than 100 employees rely on assessment tools that include personality tests before hiring the professionals. Essentially, the more an organization requires a senior position, the more they will use the assessment tool to evaluate the abilities and traits of a candidate.

The objective of this paper is to carry out the psychological assessment test to evaluate the cognitive abilities and traits of Julie.

Background Information and Reason for Referral

Julie is an African-American born in Chicago. Julie is 17-year-old referred by her counselor for a psychological evaluation to determine her emotional and cognitive status. In the United States, African-Americans have a long history of performing poorly in the high school. In the case of Julie, her parents organized private tutoring for her, and despite this effort, Julie continues to perform poorly academically. The contributing factors for Julie poor performances include learning problems, poor school attendance and complex family dynamics.

The study collects Julie\'s background information from her parents, a former psychologist, her previous social worker and her educational report. The researcher obtains this information through interview, and other valid reliable sources. Status of her ability and behavioral status are obtained by using the standardized neuropsychological, psychological and achievement tests. The study believes that validity of the test is accurate. Moreover, her school teacher confirms that her motivation at school is low. Moreover, she faces challenges in reading comprehension in the classroom. She also has problems of organization and demonstrating a poor approach to planning and often ignores mistakes. Despite her shortcomings in the class, she has improved with regards to social interaction, and express a compassion with regards her social skills.

The researcher uses the following assessment procedure to carry out the test.

The study uses the standardized assessment to target Julie domain of intelligence. Moreover, the tests are carried out to evaluate Julie academic achievement, learning process, and her psychological and emotional development. The researcher uses the following standardized instruments to carry out the assessment:

Test Administered

• Weschler Intelligence Scale

• Brown Attention Deficit Scales

• Cognitive Assessment System

• Weschler Individual Achievement Test

• Gordon Systems Performance Test

• Stroop Word Interference Test

• Multiphasic Personality Inventory Test

Assessment of Information Technique

The assessment information technique includes:

• Development History Form

• Review of medical reports

• Interviews

• Diagnostic Checklist

• Primary Sources Inventory

• Behavior Observations

Chamorro-Premuzic (2015) evaluates different assessment tools that can be used to evaluate students\' performances. The author identifies the Prehire assessments as the tools to evaluate the intellect, knowledge and moral integrity of civil servants. However, this type of assessment tool is not appropriate for Julie because Julie is still a student. Smiley, & Anderson, (2011) argue that motivation theory is the strategy to motivate students\' cognitive performances. The authors identify the cognitive assessment as an effective strategy to assess students\' ability. The benefit of the cognitive assessment is to identify the areas where students are underperforming and provide the strategy to improve their academic performances. This study also uses the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test to assess the academic performances of Julie since the test can be used for children, students, and adults aged between 4 and 85. The test assists in assessing a broad range of academic skills that include Math, Reading, Oral Language and Writing.

Test Results and Interpretations

Attention Concentration

Julie assessment in the attention concentration reveals that she has characteristics of attention deficit order. It is believed that genetic factor may be responsible for the attention concentration disorder. Essentially, attention concentration is very critical for students\' success. A student suffering from attention concentration deficit may face challenges to studying at school. Even, when a teacher is teaching in the class, the affected student may face challenges in concentrating. Students suffering from attention concentration deficit are easily distracted and they are hyperactive in nature. The study carries out the test for Julie access her attention capabilities using the Coding and Trail tests. The outcome of the test reveals that Julie demonstrates a cognitive slowness with a poor performance in Coding. However, Julie can sustain elements with good capability. Julie also performs better in the distractibility and vigilance portion with two errors of omission. However, her scores are low in the ability to perform math reasoning. The planning subsets test reveals that Julie has difficulty in regulating and organizing a mental activity. The attention control test consists of inconsistent alertness, energy and effort. Moreover, processing difficulties include tempo control, previewing, self-monitoring, reinforce ability, inhibiting and facilitating are included in the subtests. Julie faces challenges in a number of these variables. Julie also faces problems in self-monitoring notably speed of time in processing information.

Reference

Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (2015). Ace the Assessment. Harvard Business Review.

Smiley, W. & Anderson, R. (2011). MEASURING STUDENTS\' COGNITIVE ENGAGEMENT ON ASSESSMENT TESTS: A CONFIRMATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS OF THE SHORT FORM OF THE COGNITIVE ENGAGEMENT SCALE. RESEARCH & PRACTICE IN ASSESSMENT. 6: 17-27.