PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING
Accurate diagnosis is essential to appropriate and effective treatment. Testing can help to resolve diagnostic questions pertaining to many psychiatric, psychological or educational difficulties. Beyond clarifying clinical diagnostic questions, testing can yield detailed information concerning a client's functioning within particular domains (e.g., cognitive or emotional). This information, in turn, helps practitioners understand problems more fully and design optimal treatment or remediation strategies.
Harwood Building, Ste. 421 • 14 Harwood Court • Scarsdale, NY 10583 Tel: 914-725-4226; Email: info@stephenbuglionephd.com
Many different psychological and educational tests are used to assess different types of problems. Different tests yield different kinds and levels of information. Some tests are paper and pencil questionnaires completed by the client in the doctor's presence (e.g., true-false inventories and check-lists), while others are directly administered by the doctor (e.g., intelligence tests and tests of educational achievement). Some tests are straightforward and understandable to the client, while others may seem unusual or their objectives opaque (e.g., projective tests, such as the Rorschach). In trained hands, however, psychological tests yield valid and reliable information. Recent studies have shown that psychological test information is as valid and reliable as the information gained from common medical tests and procedures. Often a small group or "battery" of tests is administered to the client. This adds to the reliability of the assessment. For further information about Dr. Buglione's testing services, click here.
It is true that psychological and educational testing can be somewhat time-consuming, depending on the problem. Many processes amenable to psychological or educational measurement are multifaceted and complex.
(e.g., dimensions of intelligence, learning and memory, personality dynamics, etc.) and require a commensurate amount of time to assess. For example, in examining whether a child might be suffering from a learning disorder, his or her academic skills must be analyzed in comparison to what would be expected based on measured intelligence, and specific processing weaknesses must also be identified. This requires administering both a standardized intelligence scale and a standardized test of academic achievement across skill areas, as well as additional tests measuring the person's efficiency within various domains of information processing. In this manner, the psychologist can assess not only whether a learning disorder and disability is present, but also the nature and severity of the specific processing weaknesses underlying it. Although time consuming, the information gained from these procedures can affect a child's future dramatically (e.g., when a remediable weakness is identified, or when testing finds that academic accommodations are warranted). Notwithstanding the amount of time that testing sometimes requires, responsible professional practice means administering only as many tests and procedures as are needed to address the questions for which a client was referred. For further information about Dr. Buglione's testing services, click here.
Stephen A. Buglione, Ph. D. - Clinical Psychologist
Harwood Building, Ste. 421 • 14 Harwood Court • Scarsdale, NY 10583 Tel: 914-725-4226
Email: info@stephenbuglionephd.com
