A Guide to Child Nonverbal Iq Measures

A Guide to Child Nonverbal IQ Measures

Traditional intelligence tests have different scales and measure different cognitive abilities or skills. In reading this article I feel that nonverbal tests have been considered pure measures of general intelligence and are excellent indicators of abstract reasoning, particularly in the visual-spatial domain.  According to the authors of this article it was written to familiarize clinicians and investigators with the variety of nonverbal IQ measures currently available. I believe that it is important that clinicians as well as investigators are aware of the methods and treatments that are available to help measure a client’s or students IQ. This article was also written to highlight some of the important differences among them while providing recommendations for the selection and interpretation of nonverbal IQ measures. According to the article one measure of distinction is whether the interest considered is verbal or nonverbal.

Developed during World War I, the nonverbal IQ measure was designed to assist with analyzing and solving complex problems without relying upon or being limited by language abilities. It was designed so it can be administered to very large numbers simultaneously. So the military did group testing to measure the nonverbal intelligence of the incoming of possible recruits. In other words the incoming recruits had to take a placement test in order for the military to know where to place the recruits and to see how well educated they were. Upon the development of the IQ measures, it was expanded and used on other populations such as those with hearing loss, psychological and neurological disabilities and a host of other conditions.

Another issue discussed in the article was possible strategies when it comes to solving verbal problems nonverbally. In my opinion the use of nonverbal with verbal communication aids can be more effective with delivering test instructions. During the process of verbal communication, the message can get muddled or confusing due to the use of jargon, ambiguity or a difference in defining the words used. That’s why I believe when it comes to nonverbal communication problem solving test strategies charts and visual aids would definitely be very helpful. For instance in the reading labeling the figures helped the little girl on the UNIT test. That helped her remember what she was looking at.

Next the article discusses psychometric factors in reading the article I've come to the conclusion that psychometric factors are those aspects of a test or a measure that say how good the test or measure is. They deal with things like the reliability and validity of a measure. How accurate is it at measuring a construct and does it measure what it's supposed to measure.  This article also discusses normative samples and this is a group or participants that is selected and their performances will be compared and there is three categories that is looked at size, representativeness and recency. To my understanding in reading the article a norm referenced test uses a sample from the general population to determine what is considered to be typical or normal in that particular population. I feel that, those who design tests must choose a population they feel represents the target population to be evaluated. There are three conditions used when determining the normative sample, size is important because it decreases the margin of inaccuracy by using a rationally large number of participants. For example if you want to measure a certain aspect or commonality of 10 year olds you couldn’t use a small group because that wouldn’t be a good representation of the average 10year old. According to the article you would have to use a significant number of participants if you want your study to be valid.

Next criteria we have is representativeness and a representative sample is one that has strong external validity in relationship to the objective population the sample is meant to exemplify. Basically, the conclusions from the survey can be generalized with confidence to the population of interest. I believe there are possibly many influences that could perhaps affect the representativeness of a sample, but conventionally attention has been paid mostly to issues related to sample design and coverage. Moreover recent, concerns have extended to issues related to nonresponse. According to the article when using a sample survey to make inferences about the population from which the sampled elements were drawn, researchers must judge whether the sample is actually representative of the target population. Once you have the size and the representativeness of your sample, it is essential that your normative sample be recent. The article states that “we considered the normative data to be acceptably recent if it has been collected within the last 25 years.” Bracken (2000) 

Reliability and validity and is another part of the psychometric factors that is discussed in the article. In my opinion I believe that research and testing are used in to provide the most effective measures achievable. In the same way researchers employ vast amount of data collection methods. The following are four types of reliability internal reliability, test-retest reliability, interrater reliability and standard error of measurement. Additionally, it is important to understand how effective these instruments function. What is equally important, is that it’s necessary to know the magnitude to which the outcomes produces the same findings in the future.

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