PSY2004 S2 W2 IDing Atypical Development

Question 1

What are some reasons that define atypical development is difficult?

Answer 1

a) Individual differences in the rate of development
b) Individual differences in people’s traits, strengths and weaknesses

Question 2

What is the textbook definition of atypical development?

Answer 2

The extremes of individual differences in development

Question 3

Is atypical development just slower rates of development ?

Answer 3

No it can include advanced development and delayed development.
Atypical development doesn’t have to be just slow it can also be advanced, developing faster

Question 4

What is atypical development associated with ?

Answer 4

Generally associated with neurodevelopmental conditions (e.g. autism spectrum conditions, ADHD, William’s syndrome, intellectual disability, etc).

Question 5

What is a lower stating point atypical development?

Answer 5

child starts at a lower level of ability and then develop at the same rate as a typical developing child, but they never catch up because they started much lower.

Question 6

What is delay with catch up?

Answer 6

your rate of develop is slower but you catch up to the typical development

Question 7

What are the 4 atypical development trajectories?

Answer 7

Delay, Delay with catch up, Lower starting point and Advanced

Question 8

What is developmental regression?

Answer 8

Regression is typically seen in children with autism spectrum conditions and / or intellectual disability. Regression is defined as a period where a particular skill is developing along a typical trajectory, but then a child loses aspects of this skill, e.g. stops speaking in two-word phrases.
Most often seen in language and in motor skills.

Question 9

What is the average age of regression?

Answer 9

2-3 years

Question 10

What domains does development occur across?

Answer 10

• Adaptive Behaviour
• Social
• Cognitive
• Physical
• Motor Skills

Question 11

What in included in adaptive behaviour?

Answer 11

functional decision making
personal safety
managing money
ability to work
daily living skills
independence
personal responsibiliy

Question 12

What is included in the social domain of development?

Answer 12

gestures
reciprocal eye contact
empathy
Verbe communication
social interactions
non-verbal communication
turn taking
emotional IQ

Question 13

What is included in cognitive domain of development?

Answer 13

IQ
Memory
Attention
Language
Executive function
Numerical ability

Question 14

What’s included in physical domain of development?

Answer 14

facial dysmorphism
microcephaly
macrocephaly
physical features (heart)

Question 15

What are included in motor skill domain in development?

Answer 15

fine motor skills
balance
coordination
gross motor skill
activity level

Question 16

How can we idenitfy if development is atypical?

Answer 16

Normal distribution:
Obtained by testing many (100+) participants.

For many variables (e.g. height, weight, IQ, other cognitive abilities) samples from the population generate a normal distribution.

‘Normal distribution’ = ‘normal curve’ = ‘Bell shaped curve’

Question 17

What is important when measuring atypical development?

Answer 17

Group comparisons against a representative (or ‘normative’) sample. It is important to choose an appropriate control group.

Question 18

What variable is used to compare development?

Answer 18

When measuring development we look at chronological age and mental age.

Question 19

What is important when mesuring development ?

Answer 19

STRENGHTS
We can’t build a full profile and understanding of a child’s abilities unless we identify their strengths and weaknesses. ‘Strengths’ can be subjective or ‘relative’
o Something they’re good at compared to their other skills
o Not necessarily a strength compared to other people

Question 20

What tools do we have to measure development?

Answer 20

Specific experimental designs and standardised tests

Question 21

What is specific experimental design?

Answer 21

Designed to investigate a specific research question or hypothesis. The format can vary widely depending on the research question and methodology. Target specific behaviours. Can compare participants’ results with a matched control group (e.g. age, gender, IQ)

Examples include face recognition tasks, theory of mind tasks & executive function tasks

Question 22

What is a standardised test?

Answer 22

Designed to measure knowledge or skills in a consistent and comparable way across a large population. Follow a fixed format with specific instructions, questions, and scoring procedures. Participants’ scores can be standardized i.e. assigned a value that indicates how well they performed compared to every other person who has taken the test (regardless of individual differences)

Question 23

What are some examples of standardised tests?

Answer 23

Examples include generalised intelligence tests e.g.
o Weschler Ability Scale for Intelligence (WASI)
o Weschler Intelligence Scales for Children (WISC)
o British Ability Scale

Question 24

What is the goal of specific experimental design ?

Answer 24

experiments aim to test a speicifc skill or test hypothesis

Question 25

What is the scope of specific experimental design ?

Answer 25

focused on a specific research question.

Question 26

What is the scope of standardised tests ?

Answer 26

Standardised tests are broad in scope, covering a range of topics or skills

Question 27

What is the generalisability of specific experimental design ?

Answer 27

experiments may have limited generalisability depending on the sample and conditions.

Question 28

What is the goal of standardised tests ?

Answer 28

Standardised tests aim to measure broader knowledge or skills

Question 29

What is the generalisability of standardised tests ?

Answer 29

Standardised tests aim to generalise results to a larger population

Question 30

What are the benefits of using standardised scores?

Answer 30

* Using standardised scores enables researchers / clinicians to standardise performance across different groups, different tests, etc. * They provide a common language for discussing test performance regardless of how the actual test is designed. * Easily interpretable for clinicians / researchers. * There isn’t one set way of standardising, although they all end up allowing the same comparison

Question 31

How do you interprete task performance in standardised scores?

Answer 31

After completing a test and obtaining a raw score, the experimenter / clinician uses a “look-up table” based on appropriate representative sample to identify a scaled score. Raw scores are scaled by converting to standard scores. There are different ways to create standardised scores. One example is t-scores.

Question 32

What is Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (Bayley-III)?

Answer 32

Infants and toddlers aged 1 to 42 months. It evaluates cognitive, motor, language, social-emotional, and adaptive behaviour. Tests include observation of motor skills (e.g. rolling), tests of cognition (e.g. attention span) and social interaction

Question 33

What tests are used for younger participants?

Answer 33

Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (Bayley-III) and Infant-Toddler Developmental Assessment (IDA)

Question 34

What's a Infant-Toddler Developmental Assessment (IDA)?

Answer 34

From birth to 36 months who are at risk of developmental delays or conditions It evaluates cognitive, motor, language, social-emotional, and adaptive behaviour through observation, parent report, and standardised tasks. The IDA is often used in early intervention programs to identify children who need additional support

Question 35

What is the mean value for t-score?

Answer 35

50

Question 36

What is

Answer 36

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) is a widely used intelligence test for children aged 6 to 16. * Working memory index * Processing Speed index * Verbal comprehension index * Fluid reasoning index * Visual spatial index

Question 37

What are some tasks used in the WISC?

Answer 37

Figure Weights, visual puzzles, matrix reasoning, vocab, similarities, digit span

Question 39

How is adaptie behaviour measured?

Answer 39

Vineland adaptive behaviour scales (VABS)

Question 40

What is the Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales (VABS)?

Answer 40

Semi-structured interview carried out with parent / caregiver / teacher Communication: Receptive: what he or she understands; Expressive: What the individual says; Written: What he or she read and writes. Daily Living Skills: Personal: How the individual eats, dresses; Domestic: What household tasks the individual performs; Community: How the individual uses time, money, etc. Socialization: Interpersonal Relationships: How the individual interacts with others. Play and Leisure Time: How the individual plays. Coping skills: How the individual demonstrates responsibility and sensitivity to others. Motor Skills: Gross Motor: How the individual uses arms and legs for movement and coordination. Fine Motor: How the individual uses hands and fingers to manipulate objects. Maladaptive Behaviour Internalizing, Externalizing and other types of undesirable behaviour that may interfere with the individual’s adaptive functioning.

Question 41

What are some ways to test in non-verbal participants?

Answer 41

Wechsler Nonverbal Scale of Ability (WNV) Leiter International Performance Scale - Revised (Leiter-R)

Question 42

What is Wechsler Nonverbal Scale of Ability (WNV)?

Answer 42

Assesses non-verbal reasoning and problem-solving skills in individuals aged 4 to 21. It uses visual stimuli and requires minimal verbal instruction, making it suitable for children with language difficulties or those who are non-verbal. Consists of subtests such as Object Assembly, Block Design, and Picture Arrangement

Question 43

What is Leiter International Performance Scale - Revised (Leiter-R)?

Answer 43

Assesses cognitive abilities in individuals aged 3 to 75. It uses a variety of tasks, such as matching pictures, completing patterns, and solving mazes, to assess different aspects of intelligence. Particularly useful for assessing individuals with autism, language impairments, or hearing impairments.

Question 44

How do we interprete task performance with standardised scores?

Answer 44

We convert the raw score to something called a ‘standardized score’. Standardising a score converts the raw score to a value that represents how a participant has performed compared to others of the same age/gender. This allows us to remove individual differences and generate a score that we can compare across participants.

Question 45

How are T-socres scaled?

Answer 45

T-scores are scaled such that 50 represents the mean and 10 represents 1 standard deviation (e.g. a t-score of 60 = 1 sd above the mean and a t-score of 40 – 1 sd below the mean).