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Chapter 5: Examination and Diagnosis of the Psychiatric Patient
Test
Age Range
Description
Reading tests
Gray-Oral Reading Tests–4
th
edition
(GORT-4)
Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests–
Revised (WRMT-R)
Comprehensive Test of Phonological
Processing (CTOPP)
6 yrs–18.11 yrs
5 yrs–75
+
yrs
5 yrs–24.11 yrs
The WRMT (which includes a measure of sound–symbol association)
and GORT (which includes a measure of fluency) involve systematic
approaches to assess different aspects of reading skills. Because of the
importance of phonological awareness in the development of reading
skills, tests of phonological processing (such as the CTOPP) are often
included in assessments in which reading problems are identified.
Processing tests
General processing tests
Woodcock-Johnson–III Test of
Cognitive Abilities (WJ III COG)
2 yrs–90
+
yrs
The WJ-COG scores provide information about intellectual ability as
well as a variety of cognitive and clinical areas. A Diagnostic Supple-
ment (for kindergarten through graduate school) allows for more
assessment of processing issues.
Differential Ability Scales–II (DAS-II)
2.6 yrs–17.11 yrs The DAS provides a measure of general conceptual ability and a profile
of cognitive strengths and weaknesses.
Specialized Tests
A Developmental Neuropsychological
Assessment (NEPSY-II)
Delis-Kaplan Executive Function
System (D-KEFS)
3 yrs–16.11 yrs
8 yrs–89 yrs
Scored across six domains, the NEPSY provides scores in executive func-
tioning/attention, language, sensorimotor, visuospatial, and memory/
learning, and as social perception. As a test of executive functions,
nine stand-alone subtests assess cognitive flexibility, response inhibi-
tion, problem solving, and concept formation.
Visual–Motor Tests
Bender Visual–Motor Gestalt Test–2
nd
edition (Bender Gestalt II)
Beery Developmental Test of Visual–
Motor Integration–5
th
edition,
Revised (VMI-5)
Test of Visual–Perceptual Skills–3
rd
edition (TVPS-3)
4 yrs–85
+
yrs
2 yrs–18 yrs
4 yrs–18.11 yrs
Both the Bender and VMI involve copying geometric figures. Because
the Bender allows the student to organize the items on the page and
the VMI asks the student to copy each figure in its own space, the
two can be used together to assess organizational issues, as well as
visual–motor integration. Both the current versions of the Bender and
VMI provide ways of assessing perceptual separate from motor skills.
The TVPS is motor free and involves making judgments about visual
information—for example, a client might be asked to identify an item
from a fragmented presentation.
Auditory–Vocal Tests
Test of Auditory-Perceptual Skills–
Revised (TAPS-3)
Test of Auditory Reasoning and
Processing Skills (TARPS)
4 yrs–18.11 yrs
5 yrs–13.11 yrs
The TAPS involves making judgments about auditory information.
For example, the student might be asked to discriminate sounds or
remember words or numbers under different constraints. The TARPS
measures the “quality” and “quantity” of the client’s auditory thinking
and reasoning.
Memory Tests
Wide Range Assessment of Memory
and Learning–2
nd
edition (WRAML2)
Children’s Memory Scale (CMS)
5 yrs–90 yrs
5 yrs–16 yrs
Memory scales attempt systematically to assess memory skills within dif-
ferent spheres. The WRAML core battery consists of Verbal, Visual, and
Attention/Concentration subtests. The CMS allows for the assessment
of attention and working memory, verbal and visual memory, short-
delay and long-delay memory, recall and recognition, and learning
characteristics.
Social cognition
Test of Problem Solving
TOPS-3 referential
TOPS-2 Adolescent
Test of Pragmatic Language (TOPL)
6 yrs–12 yrs
12 yrs–17 yrs
5 yrs–13.11 yrs
Elementary and adolescent clients are asked to answer questions about
pictures or scenarios to reveal social reasoning.
A test of language used to achieve goals, with information about six
areas (setting, audience, topic, purpose, cues, and abstraction).
Publishers are constantly updating their tests, and these editions will be superseded by newer and better tests. Even now, there are variations on some
instruments that are supplanted, expanded, integrated or newly normed.
Table 5.6-1
Cognitive Tests (
continued
)
Achievement Testing.
Achievement testing is used to
determine a student’s level of functioning in basic academic
areas (i.e., reading, mathematics, and writing). The purpose
of the assessment is to identify learning problems and usu-
ally to rule out other psychological factors that might be
complicating learning. Unlike intellectual testing, achieve-
ment testing is not necessarily expected to be stable over
time because it measures the child’s success in formal
learning and is highly dependent on the home environment
and the school curriculum. Learning disability is commonly
defined in terms of “unexpected underachievement”—that
is, the child has the potential and opportunities to have
learned more. When achievement testing is undertaken
along with intellectual and processing testing, the overall
evaluation is commonly referred to as a psychoeducational
assessment.
