Psychological assessment involves testing and evaluation techniques to understand an individual's behavior, personality, and capabilities. It can include interviews, observations, psychological testing, and consultation. Testing evaluates areas like intellectual skills, memory, problem-solving, and academic abilities. Psychological assessment is used to identify strengths and weaknesses, diagnose issues, and assist with treatment planning and recommendations. It involves multiple components, including interviews, observations, standardized psychological tests, and case studies. The overall goal is to understand an individual in a comprehensive manner.

1. HEMANGI NARVEKAR
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST

2. INTRODUCTION
 Psychological assessment is a process of testing that uses a combination of techniques
to help arrive at some hypotheses about a person and their behavior, personality and
capabilities.
 Psychological assessment is also referred to as psychological testing.
 Psychological testing is nearly always performed by a licensed psychologist, or a
psychology trainee (such as an intern).
 Psychologists are the only profession that is expertly trained to perform and interpret
psychological tests.

3. PSYCHOLOGICAL
ASSESSMENT
 A psychological assessment evaluates thinking, learning, behavior and emotions.
 The assessment may include interviews, observation, testing and consultation with
other professionals involved in care.
 Testing includes pencil and paper tasks, puzzles, drawing, and games.
 The assessment covers many skill areas, such as intellectual level, language,
memory and learning, problem solving, planning and organization, fine motor
skills, visual spatial skills, and academic skills (reading, math, spelling and writing).
 Psychological assessment should never be performed in a vacuum. A part of a
thorough assessment of an individual is that they also undergo a full medical
examination, to rule out the possibilities of a medical, disease or organic cause for
the individual’s symptoms.

4. Why have an assessment?
 A psychological assessment is helpful in identifying child’s strengths and weaknesses and will
lead to recommendations for both academic and behavioural intervention.
 By detecting problems, an assessment can be used to assist in planning child’s school
program, to identify needs for special services in school, and to help one access resources in
one’s community.
 It also helps in selection of applicants for job in service or industry sector.

5. Components of Psychological Assessment
Observation Interview Tests Case Study

6. Observation
 Observations of the person being referred in their natural setting can provide additional valuable assessment
information.
 Behavioral observations may be used clinically (such as to add to interview information or to assess results of
treatment) or in research settings (to see which treatment is more efficient).
 How does the person act? Nervous, calm? What they do and do not do? Do they make and maintain eye
contact? How close to you do they sit? Often, behavior observations are some of the most important information
you can gather.
 In the case of a child, how do they behave in school settings, at home, and in the neighborhood? Does the
teacher treat them differently than other children? How do their friends react to them?
 The answers to these and similar questions can give a better picture of a child and the settings in which they
function.
 It can also help the professional conducting the assessment better formulate treatment recommendations.

7. Interviews
 Valuable information is gained through interviewing. When it’s for a child, interviews are conducted not only the child, but
the parents, teachers and other individuals familiar with the child.
 Interviews are more open and less structured than formal testing and give those being interviewed an opportunity to
convey information in their own words.
 A formal clinical interview is often conducted with the individual before the start of any psychological assessment or
testing and includes questions about the individual’s personal and childhood history, recent life experiences, work and
school history, and family background.
 There are two kinds of Interviews:
• Questions / Sequence / Wordings are fixed
• Relatively little liberty in asking questions than one fixed
• Prepared / planned Interview Schedules
STRUCTURED
• More flexible / open
• Content, sequence and wording in hands of interviewer
• Essential in some situations
UNSTRUCTURED

8. Case Study
 Case studies are in-depth investigations of a single person, group, event or community.
 Typically, data are gathered from a variety of sources and by using several different methods (e.g. observations &
interviews).
 The study may also continue for an extended period of time, so processes and developments can be studied as they
happen.
 Amongst the sources of data the psychologist is likely to turn to when carrying out a case study are observations of a
person’s daily routine, unstructured interviews with the participant herself (and with people who know her), diaries,
personal notes (e.g. letters, photographs, notes) or official document (e.g. case notes, clinical notes, appraisal reports).
 The procedure used in a case study means that the researcher provides a description of the behavior. The client also
reports detail of events from his or her point of view.
 The researcher then writes up the information from both sources above as the case study, and interprets the information.

9. Psychological Tests
 You are familiar with devices used to measure physical
characteristics: the weighing scale to measure your body weight,
the ruler to measure length or distance.
 But what about psychological characteristics such as motivation,
aptitude, or intelligence?
 For those characteristics, too, there are special devices used to
measure them, called psychological tests.
 To be of any value, psychological tests must have certain
properties.
 Three important properties of any good psychological test are
validity, reliability, and standardization.

10.  RELIABILITY
A psychological test is reliable to the extent that it produces similar results when the
individual is repeatedly tested under the same conditions.
 VALIDITY
A psychological test is said to be valid if it measures what it is intended to measure. An
intelligence test, for example, is valid to the extent that it does measure intelligence and
not simply some other variable, such as knowledge.
 STANDARDIZATION
Here the test is administered to a large sample of individuals from the population for
which the test is intended, and then compute certain group statistics, usually the mean
and standard deviation.
These provide the average value across individuals. For example, different I.Q. tests are
standardized so that the average I.Q. on the test is 100.

11. Types of Psychological Tests
Cognitive Assessments
Developmental and psycho-social Assessments
Behavioural Assessments
Assessments of Specific Learning Disabilities
Emotional and Personality Assessments
Aptitude Assessments
Psycho-Diagnostic Assessments
Neuropsychological Assessments

12. Cognitive Assessments
Assessment of Intellectual Functioning (IQ)
 Intelligence is “the global capacity of the individual to think rationally, to act purposefully and to deal effectively with
the environment “ (Wechsler, 1957).
 Psychologists assess individual’s intelligence using various tests to find their Intelligence Quotient (IQ).
 The most commonly administered IQ Tests in India are; Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – IV (WISC),
Seguin Form Board (SFB), Binet – Kamat Test (BKT), Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices(SPM), Malin’s
Intelligence Scale for Indian Children (MISIC), Bhatia’s Battery of Performance Tests of Intelligence, Draw -A-
Person Intellectual Ability Test (DAP-T), Wechsler’s Adult Intelligence Scale IV (WAIS).

13. Classification of IQ:
Range Classification
> 130 Very Superior
120 - 129 Superior
110 - 119 Above Average
90 - 109 Average
70 - 89 Borderline
50 - 69 Mild Mental Retardation
35 - 49 Moderate Mental Retardation
20 - 34 Severe Mental Retardation
< 20 Profound Mental Retardation

15. Wechsler intelligence scale for children
– IV (WISC)
 Administered on children between 6yrs to 16yrs 11months.
 There are 15 sub tests which are further concise into 4 different functional areas:
- Verbal Comprehension
- Perceptual Reasoning
- Working Memory
- Processing Speed

16. Draw - A – Person Intellectual Ability
Test (DAP-T)
 Age range - between 4 through 89 years.

19. Developmental and psychosocial
assessments
 A child born undergoes various developmental stages or milestones. Which are attained through as the child
grows.
 Children with special health care needs should have developmental monitoring and screening just like those
without special needs. Monitoring healthy development means paying attention not only to symptoms related to the
child’s condition, but also to the child’s physical, mental, social, and emotional well-being.
 It is necessary to keep track of―or monitor― your child’s health and development through periodic developmental
screening to identify any delays in their milestones as well as in their psychological and social skills.
 Eg: Developmental Screening Test (DST), Vineland Social Maturity Scale (VSMS), Denver Developmental
Screening Test (DDST) etc.

20. Developmental Screening Test (DST)
Vineland Social Maturity Scale (VSMS)
 Both tests are administered for children 0 to 15yrs of age.
 In VSMS the areas of Maturity assessed are Self Help General, Self Help
Eating, Self Help Dressing, Self Direction, Occupation, Communication,
Locomotion, Socialization.

21. DST

23. VSMS

25. Behavioral assessments
 In behavioral assessment it involves systematic collection and organization
of information regarding a child’s behavior.
 It includes current problem behaviors as communicated by the informants
and as observed by the assessor.
 Child Behavior Checklist (CBC), Behavioral Assessment Scales for Indian
Children With Mental retardation(BASIC-MR)

26. BASIC - MR
 3 – 16yrs of age children.
 BASIC – MR has been developed in two parts:
Part A – assess the current level of skill behaviors in the child.
Part B – assess the current level of problem behaviors in the child.
Part A comprises of 7 domains: Motor, Activity of Daily Living, Language, Reading –
writing, Number-time, Domestic – Social, Prevocational – Money.
Part B comprises of 10 domains: Violent and Destructive Behavior, Temper Tantrums,
Misbehaves with Others, Self Injurious Behavior, Repetitive Behavior, Odd Behaviors,
Hyperactive, Rebellious Behavior, Anti-Social Behavior, Fears.

27. Assessment of Specific Learning
Disabilities
 Learning Disabilities refer to a number of disorders which may affect the acquisition, organization, retention,
understanding or use of verbal or non verbal information. Theses disorders affect learning in individuals who
otherwise demonstrate at least average abilities essential for thinking and reasoning.
 During the school years, parents and educators should be on the alert for consistent (and persistent) patterns of
difficulty that children and adolescents may experience over time as they may signal an underlying learning
disability (LD).
 LD is a term that describes a heterogeneous (‘mixed bag’) group of disorders that impact listening, speaking,
reading, writing, reasoning, math, and social skills.
 Tools used to assess LD : Reading, Writing, Arithmetic and Integration Test, Diagnostic Assessment of Reading,
Dyslexia Screening Test – Junior, SLD – NIMHANS, The Dyslexia Adult Screening Test etc.

28. SLD - NIMHANS
 The Index of this test comprises of;
a) Attention Test (Number cancellation Test)
b) Language Test (Reading, Writing, Spelling and Comprehension)
c) Arithmetic (Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division and Fraction)
d) Visuo-Motor Skill ( Bender-Gestalt Test and the Developmental Test of Visuo-
Motor Integration)
e) Memory (Auditory and Visual)
There are two levels of assessment: Level 1 – Younger Students (5-7yrs)
Level 11 – Older Students ( 8- 12yrs)

32. Personality Assessments
Personality Assessment
 Personality assessment is designed to help a professional better understand an individual’s
personality. Personality is a complex combination of factors that has been developed over a person’s
entire childhood and young adulthood..
 There are two primary types of personality tests — objective, by far the most commonly used today,
and projective.
 Objective tests include things like the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2), the
16PF, and the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III (MCMI-III).
 Projective tests include the Rorschach Inkblot Test, the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), and the
Draw-a-Person test.

33. Rorschach Inkblot Test
 The most famous projective test is the Rorschach Inkblot Test. The test is
composed 5 black and white inkblot cards and 5 colored inkblot cards that an
individual is shown and then asked to tell the professional what they see.

38. Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
 The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is comprised of 10 cards and extra 2 cards only for Females
and 2 extra cards only for Males that depict people in a variety of situations and one card is
completely blank. The person viewing the card is asked to make up a story about what they see.
 The TAT is not often formally scored; instead it’s a test designed to try and distinguish recurring
themes in the person’s life. The pictures themselves have no inherent or “correct” story; therefore
anything a person says about the picture may be an unconscious reflection into the person’s life or
inner turmoil.
 Administered for the age group of above 12yrs.

42. Aptitude Assessment
 An aptitude is the ability to learn or to develop proficiency in an area (if provided with appropriate education or training).
 An aptitude test is any type of assessment that evaluates the talent/ability/potential to perform a certain task, with no prior
knowledge and/or training. Eg. Reasoning test could help a legal firm evaluate the ability of a lawyer to draw conclusions from
legal documents.
 Example: Differential Aptitude Tests (DAT)
 Employers often use aptitude assessments as part of their assessment procedures for the selection and development of staff.
ASSESSMENTS
HELP
EMPLOYERS
TO:
Select people best suited to the demands of the job
Areas where individuals might benefit from further development
Obtain objective information about people's abilities
ASSESSMENTS
HELP YOU TO:
Find out more about your strengths and development needs
Make future career decisions based on your abilities

43. Psycho-Diagnostic Assessment
 Psycho-diagnostic testing is a specialized diagnostic procedure that identifies and quantifies degrees of
psychopathology.
 Psycho-diagnostic testing is used to help diagnose and clarify concerns regarding behavior, personality traits,
mood, emotional functioning, and cognitive processes.
 It usually involves a sophisticated and extensive workup to distinguish the psychological contributions that may
confound accurate diagnosis and treatment.
 Psycho-diagnostic testing is typically quite involved and more time-consuming than more specific referral.
 Because it is able to provide both accurate diagnostics and to grade the severity of impairment, psycho-
diagnostic testing helps the physician or psychiatrist to make pharmacological or psychotherapeutic treatment
recommendations that have the highest likelihood of success.
 Appropriate referrals for this testing are patients whom one suspect have substance abuse problems, learning
disabilities, mental retardation or poor intellectual functioning, mood disorders, anxiety and panic disorders,
patients who have experienced trauma, children and adolescents who are "acting-out", personality disorders,
etc.
 E.g. Beck’s Depression Inventory, MMPI, Addiction Severity Index, etc.

44. Neurological Assessment
 Neuropsychologists use scientifically validated objective tests to evaluate brain functions.
 While neurological examination and CT, MRI, EEG, and PET scans look at the structural, physical, and metabolic
condition of the brain, the neuropsychological examination is the only way to formally assess brain function.
 A neuropsychological evaluation helps determine:
 Neuropsychological tests cover the range of mental processes from simple motor performance to complex
reasoning and problem solving.
 Eg. Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery, Sensory Screening Test, Wisconsin Card Sort Test, etc.
Which
of the brain
have been
disrupted
To what extent
What these
changes mean
in the person’s
day-to-day life
What can be
done to help

45. To Conclude..
 Psychologists seek to take the information gathered from psychological assessment and weave it into a comprehensive and complete
picture of the person being tested.
 Recommendations are based on all the assessment results and from discussion with peers, family, and others who may shed light on
the person’s behavior in different settings.
 For instance, in children, information must be obtained from parents and teachers in order for psychological assessment to be
considered complete and relevant to the child.
 A psychologist is there to evaluate the competencies as well as the limitations of the person, and report on them in an objective but
helpful manner. A psychological assessment report will not only note weaknesses found in testing, but also the individual’s strengths.
 Psychological testing isn't like taking a multiple-choice exam that you either pass or fail. Psychological testing and assessment is
nothing to fear. It's not something you need to study for.
 Rather, psychologists use information from the various tests and assessments to reach a specific diagnosis and develop a treatment
plan.

46. References
 Anastasi, A. (1997). Psychological Testing. Michigan: Prentice Hall.
 Neuropsychological Assessments. Retrieved from
https://dspd.utah.gov/pdf/ABI%20Manual%20Module%20V%20-
%20Neurological%20Assessments.pdf.
 Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
 Rorschach Inkblock Test
 Vineland Social Maturity Scale (VSMS)
 Developmental Screening Test (DST)
 NIMHANS SLD Index