A hologram is a description of a child within an evaluation that illustrates the child’s strengths and weaknesses for the reader. The hologram should include examples that show the child’s ability to learn and highest level of functioning, as well as a description of when his or her skills break down. Read More
Category: Content Type
Report Writing: Guide
Most administrators, who make the ultimate decision on whether or not a child needs services, never actually see the child. For that reason, it is extremely important that the evaluator include all the necessary information in their evaluation. This is a template of all the necessary sections in an evaluation. Read More
Understanding Assessment: Effects of Cultural Bias on Childhood Development
During assessment, a child that comes from a culturally and linguistically diverse background may not have had exposure to the knowledge or experience that is present in the test or expected by the evaluator. This lack of culturally or linguistically sensitive assessments and/or evaluators can lead to high rates of disproportionality in referrals to special services.
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Understanding Assessment: Understanding the Normal Distribution
A normal distribution, also called a bell curve, occurs when variables (i.e., test scores) plotted on a graph fall into a regular distribution around a single mean. In a normal distribution, about 96% of the scores will fall within 2 standard deviations of the mean. Read More
Understanding Assessment: How Does Linguistic Bias Affect Language Evaluations?
Linguistic bias can be bias towards speakers of other languages or dialects, or towards bilingual speakers and results in inaccurate assessment of children from linguistic backgrounds other than Standard American English. As a result, minorities are overrepresented in special education programs (IDEA 2004). Read More
Understanding Assessment: Standard Deviation
A standard deviation (SD) is a quantity derived from the distribution of scores from a normative sample. The standard deviation is the average distance (or deviation) from the mean. Read More
Understanding Assessment: Problems with Percentile Rank and Age Equivalency
The percentile rank of a score is percentage of total scores from the normative sample that were equal or lesser than the value of the score. It can be plotted on the bell curve of a normal distribution. Read More
Understanding Assessment: Assessment Materials- Dynamic vs. Static Assessment
A variety of sessmentsessment materials and procedures are frequently used in speech and language as well as psychoeducational evaluations. These include static and dynamic assessments and language samples. Read More
