Equivalence and concurrent validity of PPVT-R forms L and M for school-age children with special needs

The PPVT-R and the WISC-R were administered to 101 special needs students; 55 of the referrals were new and 46 were reevaluation. Concurrent validity within the moderate range (.53 to .67) was established; however, when form L and form M were correlated with the WISC-R, form L yielded consistently higher correlations than did form M. Level of performance as reflected by average performance on the PPVT-R and WISC-R was comparable. No significant difference between instruments was observed except, as anticipated, for the PPVT-R and the WISC-R Performance Scale. No sex differences were observed. Further research focusing on the equivalency of forms L and M and the PPVT-R is recommended, particularly since such equivalence or “lack of” may interact with age of student or nature of classifying condition.     

Private practice of school psychology: Implications from the APA specialty guidelines

A model of school psychology private practice is developed that is appropriate to the unique training and experience of school psychologists and is consistent with the professional functions outlined in the Specialty Guidelines for rhe Delivery of Services by School Psychologists developed by the American Psychological Association. Each of the six functions is examined to see how it could be conducted effectively within the parameters of private practice. Client populations and recruitment efforts are addressed briefly. A cautionary note is sounded about several potential ethical conflicts that have particular relevance to the private practice of school psychology; i.e., competence, communication of services to the public, and conflicts of interest.     

The validity of certain subtests of the ITPA,WISC, and stanford-binet as measures of analogical reasoning

Certain subtests of the WISC, ITPA, and Stanford-Binet are used as measures of analogical reasoning. Because several facts suggested that the form of analogy used on these subtests does not require subjects to engage in true analogical reasoning, the validity of these subtests as measures of analogical reasoning was investigated. Two forms of verbal analogies were vised: quasi-analogies (the form used on the WISC, ITPA, and Stanford-Binet) which presented the problem in sentence form (a bird uses air; a fish uses. ); and true analogies which presented the problem in the form cf a proportion (bird is to air as fish is to…). Subjects were 9-, 12-, and 15-year old children. These ages were used because children below 12 years of age do not appear to have the cognitive skills necessary for analogical reasoning. Nine-year old subjects obtained significantly higher scores on quasi-analogies in comparison to true analogies. There were no significant differences for the older subjects. Because of this it was suggested that the “analogy” items on the WISC, ITPA and Stanford-Binet are inappropriate test items for assessing analogical reasoning.