SEA

                                       

                                  William Venables

                            

     Practicum III (MAS 7998)

                       

 Structured External Assignment

Tests that measure an individual’s intelligence, reading level, auditory level, visual level and psychological level are extremely important in identifying where an individual is at in his/her education and life in general. Any test that diagnoses and can help improve one’s life needs to be taken by that individual. I realize that not every individual will take all six tests that I have gone over below in his/her life. However, everyone needs to understand the purpose behind each one of them so that parents, teachers and the individual can understand just how impactful they can be.

Test	Purposes	Strengths	Weaknesses	Appropriateness
Slosson Intelligence Test (SIT)	An individual’s intellectual ability is measured.	There are no penalties for individuals that get upset under pressure, have handicaps and/or other issues that may lead to going over the preferred 10-20 minutes.	The only thing that I consider a weakness in this test is the fact that it ranges from ages 4 through 65 which means that anyone after the age of 65 wouldn’t be able to take it.	This test is given to individuals ranging anywhere from age 4 through 65. The quickness of the test and the no-penalty for handicappers and/or individuals with other issues makes this a very accurate and ideal test to be administered.
Slosson Oral Reading Test (SORT)	An individual is given a quick screening test to determine his/her reading level.	There are different point print sizes (14, 18, 24) to help suit the needs of students with word size preferences or those with handicaps. Target words have been carefully chosen to figure out exactly how far a student is from reaching a high school level in just 3-5 minutes.	The quickness of the test may seem ideal but if a student is having a bad day and lacks concentration this could cause a wrong reading level placement.	This test has been updated to suit the needs of Native Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic-Americans and Pacific Island Americans which can be fantastic, but the quickness of the test can be a problem for many students.
Basic Reading Inventory (BRI)	The BRI determines a student’s reading level based off the information that was gathered from a reading inventory.	All three levels (independent, instructional, frustration) of the BRI allows students to be placed in the right levels and gives teachers the understanding of where the student’s reading level is at.	Teachers that administer the BRI may frustrate a student too soon which may cause a student to be placed in a wrong level	The BRI has three reading levels which teachers use to assess. These levels are independent, instructional and frustration. These levels tell a teacher exactly where the student is at which makes it ideal for targeting a student’s reading level.
Wepman Auditory Discrimination Test	The Wepman’s test assesses a student’s ability to understand the differences between phonemes that are used in the English speech.	This is a test that can be completed in just five minutes and the understanding that the student has will be a 100% accurate to the teacher because the student reads the words out loud.	This is an outdated test that is recommended for children 4 to 8 years of age. Although the test would be high priority for early elementary students it most likely wouldn’t be for any other age group.	Forty pairs of words are read out to a student usually ranging from age 4 to 8 and the test can be completed in just five minutes. Although this test is somewhat outdated it still can be considered ideal for elementary teachers to administer to students.
Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (NAB) Visual Discrimination Test	The purpose of this test is to evaluate visual perceptual accuracy.	This test is broken up into six modules: attention, language, spatial, memory, executive functions and screening. The fact that these modules are broken up gives the individual the opportunity to have his/her visual perception accurately established.	This is a rather longer test that is 75 minutes long and ranges from ages 18 to 97. This means that this test is generally geared at individuals that have finished school. Therefore teachers at the secondary level most likely would have no involvement in this test.	This is a great test to be administered to those individuals that are 18 to 97 years of age and need a certain module to be measured. In other words, this test can be broken down to one module instead of worrying about all six if need be.  This is a very helpful test.
Bender Gestalt Test (BGT) Psychological Reading Test	This is a psychological assessment that is used to determine visual-motor functioning and visual perception skills in children and adults.	This test is done by a clinically trained examiner which is obviously very important due to its seriousness.	Although this test is administered by a clinically trained examiner there have been cases when diagnosis have been incorrect and individuals have been treated for brain damage but did not actually have any damage.	This assessment is given to determine an individual’s visual maturity, integration skills, style of responding, organizational skills and motivation. All of these things are very important in determining if an individual has possible brain damage.

All six of these tests have important characteristics that give an individual/student the opportunity to understand where he/she is at. For instance, the Slosson Oral Reading test and the Basic Reading Inventory give the individual and the teacher the opportunity to understand what reading level the individual is at. The intelligence test measures an individual’s intellectual ability. The visual, auditory and psychological tests measure visual-motor functioning and visual perception skills. All of these tests may be administered to the individual at different times in his/her life. For instance, the BRI would most likely be given to a student early in his/her schooling unlike the Visual discrimination test that an individual cannot take until the age of 18.

All of these tests can be done by anyone as long as they fit inside the age qualifications. All of these tests have their own significance (including BRI), but generally an individual will not take all of them in his/her life. However, all of these tests are very important and every student/teacher/parent(s) should be aware of their importance so that everyone can reach his/her highest potential.

Sources:

Slosson Intelligence Test (SIT)

http://www.slossonnews.com/page7.htm

Slosson Oral Reading Test (SORT)

http://www.slossonnews.com/page4.htm

Basic Reading Inventory (BRI)

http://comprehensiveliteracy.wikispaces.com/Basic+Reading+Inventory

Wepman Auditory Discrimination Test

http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Wepman_Auditory_Discrimination_Test

Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (NAB) Visual Discrimination Test

http://www.hogrefe.co.uk/clinical-and-educational/neuropsychology-child-and-adult/nab-visual-discrimination-test.html

Bender Gestalt Test (BGT) Psychological Reading Test

http://www.minddisorders.com/A-Br/Bender-Gestalt-Test.html