Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

2690

Date

2016

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

School Psychology

Committee Chair

Randy Floyd

Committee Member

Thomas Fagan

Committee Member

Elizabeth Meisinger

Committee Member

Robert Cohen

Abstract

Effective screenings should be conducted prior to assessing children with intelligence and achievement tests to find methods to identify and prevent or minimize construct-irrelevant influences on test scores. This investigation, targeting school-age children, employed a between-subjects experimental design with five pairs of conditions (representing each of the Screening Tool for Assessment:Direct Screening Test (STA: DST) screeners--Vision Screener, Colorblindness Screener, Fine Motor Screener, and Articulation Screener). Each participant was randomly assigned to either a control condition or an impediment condition for each screener, and they competed all five screeners in a standard sequence. In the impediment conditions, the participants completed the STA: DST wearing items that negatively impacted their ability to complete the tasks in a way that is similar to a child with undiagnosed sensory, motor, and/or language problems. In the control conditions, the participants completed the STA: DST with no experimental manipulation (while mirroring the impediment condition as closely as possible). The STA:DSTaccurately identified participants in these conditions for the vision, colorblindness, fine motor, and articulation screeners, but not the hearing screener. Cut scores that maximally differentiated between those in each condition are offered, and implications for the use of the STA: DST are discussed.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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