Call it a chicken-and-egg dilemma. Say a child scores low on a test, but they also struggle with the skills needed to take that test.
Which comes first? The child’s lack of knowledge, or their lack of ability to take the test?
That’s the question posed by Hope Lancaster, Ph.D. She’s the director of the Etiologies of Language and Literacy Lab at Boys Town National Research Hospital.
Her study, the first to compare nonverbal IQ tests in this way, showed there are important differences in these tests. It matters because they can result in big decisions.
“A child with a learning disability may do better on one test compared to another due to test design,” Dr. Lancaster said. “That’s really important if it leads to a learning disability diagnosis and thus access to special education services.”
Asking the Questions
Dr. Lancaster’s idea for this study came from a conversation with other researchers.
“We use nonverbal IQ tests to decide who can be in our studies. Schools and clinics use the same tests to figure out a child’s strengths and needs,” she said.
The researchers knew that children with conditions like ADHD and developmental language disorder tend to have lower scores on nonverbal IQ tests.
They also knew that these tests rely on language skills that children with ADHD and other neurodevelopmental conditions may struggle with.
So when these children find questions confusing or take so long to answer that they don’t finish the test, that can impact test scores.
But it doesn’t always mean they don’t know the answers.
Grading the Tests
To learn more, Dr. Lancaster’s team looked at seven tests commonly used in clinics, schools and research labs
They created a code system to measure how much the tests relied on different skills — such as attention, memory and language. All that data was used to “grade” the tests.
Their findings? Not all tests are the same.
“They are similar in some ways,” Dr. Lancaster said. “But they are different in how much attention and language they require.”
Getting Better Answers
The study showed that it’s important to choose the right test — and to take care when reviewing the results.
“Testing can be high stakes because the results can lead to a diagnosis or access to services,” Dr. Lancaster said.
“But if the test isn’t a good fit, it might give an incomplete picture of what the child can do.”
Many experts who work with children have suspected that these tests don’t accurately show the whole picture — but there was no data to back up that suspicion.
As the first research study of its kind, Dr. Lancaster expects the results may spur more studies and conversations about how these children’s abilities are measured.
“Ultimately, I hope this helps families get the kind of testing their child needs,” Dr. Lancaster said.
Study Opportunity
Are you an adult between the ages of 19 and 40 who received speech language services or reading services as a child for language or a reading disorder or learning disability?
You may be eligible to participate in an in-person/online research study, and you could receive up to $51 in payment.
For more information, contact lab manager Alicia Buttner at el3@boystown.org
