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CHAPTER TWO PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENTS USED FOR INFANTS AND YOUNG CHILDREN In this chapter the more widely used psychological assessment instruments for infants and young children are highlighted. The reason for their inclusion, is to gain an understanding of the development of the Griffiths Scales within a historical context. Special emphasis is given to the Griffiths Scales. Hetherington and Parke (1986) stated that the developmental milestones for the acquisition of language, seem to arise in a regular and fixed order and usually at the same rate for all normal children around the world, irrespective of the culture to which they belong. This view is not shared by all researchers of language acquisition, although most agree that the period of onset is universal. As stated by Lennenberg (1966) researchers of language acquisition have never been struck by any discrepancies between vocalizations or communicative behaviour among children of "primitive" or "western" man. However, not all agree as to the cause of the onset, or its subsequent development. The trend of research can be capsulized in the following manner. There are researchers who propose that language is innate, that is man is destined to be verbal. There are others, who insist that language is a learned tool and that certain environmental controls precipitate this learning (McElroy, 1972). To date these views are yet to be resolved (Swan, 1992). A historical overview of the assessment instruments for infants and young children will now proceed. It was towards the end of the 19 th century that schools for special education began to emerge throughout the United States of America (USA) and Europe. This resulted in a need for a reliable and valid assessment instrument for children (Anastasi, 1976). In 1904 Simon Binet was on a commission in Paris to study the question of special education. The concern for mentally retarded children who could benefit from special education acted as a catalyst for the development of intelligence tests for children (Binet, 1903). This resulted in the development of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale. The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, Fourth Edition (Stanford-Binet Scale) that is widely used today, stems from the original Binet tests. Norms were provided from the age of 2 years to adulthood in the 1972 edition (Thorndike, Hagen & Sattler, 1986). Despite the wide age-range of the scale, which has been considered one of its major assets, the test is 15
highly verbal in nature which is limiting for a handicapped person with verbal deficits (Simonsson, 1986). Furthermore, a profile of strengths and weaknesses cannot be obtained due to the fact that the Stanford Binet Scale only provides a general intelligence quotient (Allan, 1992). Murphy and Davidshofer (1988) stated that despite the assets of the scale which included the continuity between the original and the current test, as well as the general reliability and validity of the scale which appeared to be high, there is strong evidence to suggest that the scale is less reliable for younger children, especially in the age-range of 2 years 5 months to 5 years 5 months. It was during the late 1920's and early 1930's, that the diaries of men like Darwin and Galton generated interest in the development of certain abilities in babies and children (Bhamjee, 1991; Heimes, 1983). The developers of intelligence realised that infancy was a topic important and worthy of further study (Darwin, 1877; Stern, 1914). This resulted in the development of two tests, namely, the Bayley Scales and the Gesell Developmental Schedules (Anastasi, 1982; Brooks & Weinraub, 1976; Gesell, Halverson, IIg, Thompson, Castner, Ames, & Amatrude, 1940). Bayley (1933) published the California First Year Mental Scale, which was developed to study mental and motor development in infants for use in the Berkeley Growth Study. After many years, the California First Year Mental Scale was revised and restandardized (Bayley, 1955). The Bayley Scales of Infant Development (Bayley Scales) were published in 1969. Today the revised Bayley Scales are utilized with infants ranging from 1 month to 42 months of age (Bayley, 1993). This Scale is comprised of mental, motor and behavioural scales. The latter scale was developed to assess various aspects of personality development, such as emotional and social behaviour and goal directedness (Bayley, 1969, 1993). In 1940 the Gesell Developmental Schedules (Gesell Schedules) were constructed at the Yale Clinic of Childhood development. The age-range measured by the Gesell Schedules extended from 1 month to 6 years of age. Four areas of development were measured, namely: motor development, language development, adaptive behaviour and personal-social behaviour (Griffiths, 1954). Age placements were determined by the percentage of subjects who passed each item. This allows for the comparison between the development of a particular child and a normative standard (Kaplan & Saddock, 1991). Although the Gesell Schedules were considered less standardized and more subjective than many other psychological tests, they have been regarded as a main source of data for many infant and pre-school tests that have subsequently followed (Brooks & Weinraub, 1976). 16
Page 1 and 2: A REVISION OF A SECTION OF THE HEAR
Page 3 and 4: TABLE OF CONTENTS ii Page ACKNOWLED
Page 5 and 6: CHAPTER FOUR METHODOLOGY Problem fo
Page 7 and 8: LIST OF FIGURES vi Page Figure 1 Po
Page 9 and 10: Table 24 The responses given to the
Page 11 and 12: The major findings of the present s
Page 13 and 14: Die hoof bevindinge van die huidige
Page 15 and 16: Holt (1979) has comprehensively sum
Page 17 and 18: Figure 1 Population of South Africa
Page 19 and 20: of disabled people increases slowly
Page 21 and 22: second language or culture. Hamblet
Page 23 and 24: ange from birth to three years of a
Page 25 and 26: Africa cannot be separated from the
Page 27: 14 Hence, this study was aimed at p
Page 31 and 32: perceptual-performance, quantitativ
Page 33 and 34: acquisition of this complex ability
Page 35 and 36: assessment of young children in Sou
Page 37 and 38: Table 1 Griffiths (1960) scoring cr
Page 39 and 40: that the two scales produced signif
Page 41 and 42: 28 (GQ) and in their performance on
Page 43 and 44: 30 British counterparts with respec
Page 45 and 46: 32 concluded that the Griffiths Sca
Page 47 and 48: 34 languages are usually successful
Page 49 and 50: individual been assessed. Hence, wh
Page 51 and 52: Wilhelm Wundt, the founder of exper
Page 53 and 54: ecome evident. Questions include th
Page 55 and 56: Plays language games (pat-a-cake, p
Page 57 and 58: 36-54 months. Grammar developmental
Page 59 and 60: understands, and, if the child appe
Page 61 and 62: 48 the child's performance on each
Page 63 and 64: 50 manipulate simple toys according
Page 65 and 66: children's verbal responses. The re
Page 67 and 68: CHAPTER FOUR METHODOLOGY PROBLEM FO
Page 69 and 70: Bailey (1987) lists several advanta
Page 71 and 72: espondents, many mailed questionnai
Page 73 and 74: he studied the 2 Griffiths manuals
Page 75 and 76: 62 written responses of the complet
Page 77 and 78: Stage 5 The most frequently suggest
Page 79 and 80:
66 The subjects in the present stud
Page 81 and 82:
Table 6 Demographic data for Sample
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In the present study, parents were
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Stage 6 Stage 7 For the large revis
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number of stimuli from the revised
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Table 10 The responses given to the
Page 91 and 92:
Page 93 and 94:
80 Table 13 indicates the responses
Page 95 and 96:
Table 15 Frequency and percentages
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highest and lowest mean numbers of
Page 99 and 100:
Page 101 and 102:
88 Table 21 indicates the frequency
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65 months elicited the highest mean
Page 105 and 106:
Page 107 and 108:
Table 26 Means and Standard deviati
Page 109 and 110:
Page 111 and 112:
impacted on the spread of obtained
Page 113 and 114:
CHAPTER SIX CRITICAL EVALUATION AND
Page 115 and 116:
proposed criteria. Regarding Griffi
Page 117 and 118:
include: LIMITATIONS The limitation
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e included into the Hearing and Spe
Page 121 and 122:
BIBLIOGRAPHY Aldridge-Smith, J., Bi
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110 Development Bank of South Afric
Page 125 and 126:
112 Scale scores of 3-5 year old bo
Page 127 and 128:
University Press. Lister, C. (1981)
Page 129 and 130:
Kegan Paul. Kegan Paul. Kegan Paul.
Page 131 and 132:
Minnesota Press. Thomas, H. (1970).
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APPENDIX A Letters and questionnair
Page 135 and 136:
Questionnaire attached to above let
Page 137 and 138:
APPENDIX C Letter to parents for th
Page 139 and 140:
Biographical questionnaire for pare
Page 141 and 142:
APPENDIX E Riordan (1978). The valu
Page 143:
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