Performance validity testing (PVT) and its importance have been well established in the adult literature of clinical and forensic neuropsychological settings. The chapter provides operational definitions and clarification of frequently used terms to ensure continuity across disciplines. The terms assist with explaining usage across specialties and purposes. Many terms are associated with assessing effort and motivation. This chapter introduces the reader to the general topic of assessing effort and motivation across settings and also aims to validate its usefulness and importance in the school and pediatric clinic settings. Results indicate that while RDS is likely insensitive to impairments associated with LD, other DS measures may have an unacceptably high false-positive rate, especially if Canadian normative data are used to calculate scores. This study examined the specificity of such measures by reviewing performance of 86 adolescents with LDs on three measures embedded in the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition-namely, Digit Span (DS), Vocabulary-DS differences, and Reliable Digit Span (RDS) scores. Such embedded measures are based on identification of performance patterns that are implausible if the test taker is investing full effort however, it is unclear whether or not persons with preexisting cognitive difficulties such as specific learning disabilities (LD) might be falsely accused of poor test motivation due to actual but impaired working-memory skills. Apart from using freestanding symptom validity tests, many researchers encourage use of embedded measures of test-related motivation, including ones derived from the Digit Span subtest of the Wechsler scales. Abstract Accurate identification of symptom magnification is essential when determining whether or not obtained test data are valid or interpretable.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |