A psychological assessment is the gathering of information from various sources to determine whether or not a disability is present. The sources could be from interviews, observations, standardized tests and projective tests. A licensed psychologist conducts the assessments, but sometimes a psychiatric nurse or clinical social worker, for example can do a clinical test on the person.
Psychological Testing On Adults
Seven basic tests to determine if a person has a disability.
- group educated: California Achievement Test – Ability and preference test: Myers-Briggs Test
- LD and neuropsychology: Halstead Reitan Battery
- Individual Intelligence Test: WAIS and WISC
- Readiness: Metropolitan Readiness test
- Objective personality test: MMP12 or PAI
- self administered, scored interpreted test such as data base user qualification test.
These are only a few types of tests that the psychologists use to administer so they can determine if a person qualifies for a disability. These are usually done on adults.
Psychological Testing On Children And Young Adults
Psychologists usually use different tests on children/young people. They identify their strengths and weaknesses usually by play or school type testing. It can be broken down into these categories:
- intelligence (how that person thinks)
- achievement (what they are able to do)
- attention (how well they can concentrate on an activity)
- memory
- emotions(feelings)
- behaviors (actions)
Kids are usually interviewed and/or are observed by the psychologist for a period of time, then they go over it with the parents or caregivers. Like adult tests, there are many other tests that psychologists use. It depends on what they are testing for.
How Can An Assessment Help A Child?
Getting to the root of the problem can take awhile because you need to take certain to help get rid of the problem.
- identify what the problem is
- assessing the problem
- understand what the problem is
- any interventions or recommendations on dealing with the problem
Psychological assessments are not only for determining if a person has a disability, but businesses use them to get to know the people that they want to hire, promote, coach or counsel. Business professionals use them to recruit, retain and develop their people. Psychological assessments are generally used to see if a future employee is qualified to fit in with the company. They use the following tools to determine whether or not a person is the right fit:
- succession planning * employment screening
- pre-employment decisions
- employment counseling situations
Psychological assessments are helpful tools in many ways. That’s why they have been used for years. They can determine a persons weakness so that a psychologist can help that person make some improvements.