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Cognitive Tests in Early Childhood: Psychometric and Cultural Considerations

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Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment

Published online on

Abstract

Cognitive assessment of young children contributes to high-stakes decisions because results are often used to determine eligibility for early intervention and special education. Previous reviews of cognitive measures for young children highlighted concerns regarding adequacy of standardization samples, steep item gradients, and insufficient floors for young children functioning at lower levels. The present report extends previous reviews by including measures recently published or revised, nonverbal cognitive assessment tools, and issues specific to assessing bilingual or non-English-speaking children. Sixteen tests were reviewed, including all available measures of cognitive functioning for 2- to 4-year-old children normed in the United States. Test characteristics evaluated included (a) representativeness and recency of standardization data, (b) item bias analysis, (c) psychometric characteristics, and (d) appropriateness for assessing young children with developmental delays and non-English-speaking children. Implications are discussed for clinicians, researchers, and test developers.