A normative study of the Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices for South African children with cognitive barriers to learning
- Authors: August, Justin Oswin
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Children -- Intelligence testing -- South Africa , Inclusive education -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/19419 , vital:28869
- Description: With the changing landscape in South Africa to a full democracy, increased research has been undertaken in the psychometric field on local and national normative studies regarding various assessment measures. The Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM) is one of the measures that have already been extensively normed throughout the world for various population groups. In South Africa, local norms for normal populations of children have been developed by groups of researchers in the Grahamstown (Eastern Cape) as well as the Bloemfontein (Free State) areas. With a South African school educational system that focuses on Inclusive Education, there is a growing need for mainstream schools to identify learners who are at risk for learning disabilities in order to develop appropriate supportive intervention plans. The research aimed to establish psychometric normative screening data based on the Raven’s CPM, and to compare these with the established and published international and local Raven’s CPM norms. In addition, the researcher developed pilot classification scores for the early screening and detection of at risk learners in order to encourage the potential role and use of the Raven’s CPM in the identification of cognitive learning barriers. The sample consisted of 388 primary school learners identified as having cognitive barriers to learning. Archival data was used that was gathered from a Psychological clinic that provided screening services to schools in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan area. The results of the study indicated that there was a proportional relationship between age and test performance. Gender differences were found where the males in this study outperformed the females. There was a significant difference in the Raven’s CPM test performance with respect to the grade levels of the learners. The study developed a special set of norms with cognitive classification scores that will aid in the early identification of learning disabilities.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: August, Justin Oswin
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Children -- Intelligence testing -- South Africa , Inclusive education -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/19419 , vital:28869
- Description: With the changing landscape in South Africa to a full democracy, increased research has been undertaken in the psychometric field on local and national normative studies regarding various assessment measures. The Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM) is one of the measures that have already been extensively normed throughout the world for various population groups. In South Africa, local norms for normal populations of children have been developed by groups of researchers in the Grahamstown (Eastern Cape) as well as the Bloemfontein (Free State) areas. With a South African school educational system that focuses on Inclusive Education, there is a growing need for mainstream schools to identify learners who are at risk for learning disabilities in order to develop appropriate supportive intervention plans. The research aimed to establish psychometric normative screening data based on the Raven’s CPM, and to compare these with the established and published international and local Raven’s CPM norms. In addition, the researcher developed pilot classification scores for the early screening and detection of at risk learners in order to encourage the potential role and use of the Raven’s CPM in the identification of cognitive learning barriers. The sample consisted of 388 primary school learners identified as having cognitive barriers to learning. Archival data was used that was gathered from a Psychological clinic that provided screening services to schools in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan area. The results of the study indicated that there was a proportional relationship between age and test performance. Gender differences were found where the males in this study outperformed the females. There was a significant difference in the Raven’s CPM test performance with respect to the grade levels of the learners. The study developed a special set of norms with cognitive classification scores that will aid in the early identification of learning disabilities.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Exploring the construct-related validity of the eye and hand coordination subscale of the Griffiths Mental Development Scales-Extended revised (GMDS-ER)
- Authors: Povey, Jenny-Louise
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Griffiths Scales of Mental Development , Mental development -- Testing , Psychological tests for children , Children -- Intelligence testing -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: vital:9923 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/661 , Griffiths Scales of Mental Development , Mental development -- Testing , Psychological tests for children , Children -- Intelligence testing -- South Africa
- Description: To constantly add to our understanding of child development, a valid, comprehensive, well-researched measure is needed. The recent revision and standardisation of the Griffiths Mental Development Scales - Extended Revised (GMDS-ER) has necessitated investigations into its psychometric properties. This measure is used to identify developmental delays in children and critical decisions may be made, hence it is imperative that this measure be deemed both reliable and valid. This study aimed to contribute to the broader restandardisation project and focussed on gathering qualitative and quantitative construct-related validity evidence for one of the six Subscales of the GMDS-ER, namely the Eye and Hand Coordination Subscale (Subscale D). An exploratory descriptive method using a triangulation approach was used to explore the construct-related validity evidence of the Eye and Hand Coordination Subscale. A non-random purposively selected sample of 6 experts, who had worked at least 10 years with children assessing and evaluating the domain of eye-hand coordination, participated in a facet analysis to identify the underlying dimensions tapped by the Eye and Hand Coordination Subscale. The sample for the quantitative aspects of this study, the empirical validation of the construct model, was collected as part of the broader restandardisation and represented a stratified sample of 1026 children between the ages 24 months and 96 months from across the United Kingdom and Eire. Three measures, namely a biographical questionnaire, the GMDS-ER and a construct evaluation form were used to gather the qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative data was analysed by means of a facet analysis and literature control which included examining other tests or subtests that tapped eye-hand coordination skills. The quantitative data was analysed by means of exploratory common factor analysis using oblique (DQUART) rotation in order to verify the qualitatively identified construct model by specifying a one-factor solution for each underlying construct. While literature suggests that eye-hand coordination is multidimensional in nature the facet analysis revealed that the tasks tapped by Subscale D were not tapping complex skills aside from eye-hand coordination. The facet analysis thus revealed that all the items tap the eye-hand coordination of fine motor tasks and that these items could be grouped into two categories, using writing utensils and object manipulation. The results from the factor analysis confirmed that the items on Subscale D have one underlying construct and further exploration confirmed that these items could in fact be grouped into two categories. The coefficients of congruence for SES and gender were satisfactory and thus the construct model was validated across these groups as well. The study has provided extensive qualitative and quantitative evidence for the construct-related validity of the Eye and Hand Coordination Subscale of the GMDS-ER, thus validating its use as a sound measure of eye-hand coordination development in children aged 2 to 8 years. The content coverage however, seemed to indicate that the tasks required do not adequately cover all the facets of eye-hand coordination and some of these item types are tapped by the other Subscales in the measure. Hence, should the Subscale be used as an independent assessment of eye-hand coordination, the eye-hand coordination development of the child would have a narrow focus. In addition, in reviewing the variety of tasks in the two sections for the older and younger child, the researcher noted that while section III tapped a variety of skills, section IV only focused on skills associated with drawing, copying and writing. A review of the age appropriateness of the items and the item analysis results from the revision seemed to indicate that some of the items assessing the older child may need to be revised. Further, the researcher suggested that the revision should consider adding additional dimensions to the tasks assessed. Overall, it is the researcher‟s opinion that this Subscale was not given adequate attention during the revision process and should future revisions occur, the recommendations from this study should be considered.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Povey, Jenny-Louise
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Griffiths Scales of Mental Development , Mental development -- Testing , Psychological tests for children , Children -- Intelligence testing -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: vital:9923 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/661 , Griffiths Scales of Mental Development , Mental development -- Testing , Psychological tests for children , Children -- Intelligence testing -- South Africa
- Description: To constantly add to our understanding of child development, a valid, comprehensive, well-researched measure is needed. The recent revision and standardisation of the Griffiths Mental Development Scales - Extended Revised (GMDS-ER) has necessitated investigations into its psychometric properties. This measure is used to identify developmental delays in children and critical decisions may be made, hence it is imperative that this measure be deemed both reliable and valid. This study aimed to contribute to the broader restandardisation project and focussed on gathering qualitative and quantitative construct-related validity evidence for one of the six Subscales of the GMDS-ER, namely the Eye and Hand Coordination Subscale (Subscale D). An exploratory descriptive method using a triangulation approach was used to explore the construct-related validity evidence of the Eye and Hand Coordination Subscale. A non-random purposively selected sample of 6 experts, who had worked at least 10 years with children assessing and evaluating the domain of eye-hand coordination, participated in a facet analysis to identify the underlying dimensions tapped by the Eye and Hand Coordination Subscale. The sample for the quantitative aspects of this study, the empirical validation of the construct model, was collected as part of the broader restandardisation and represented a stratified sample of 1026 children between the ages 24 months and 96 months from across the United Kingdom and Eire. Three measures, namely a biographical questionnaire, the GMDS-ER and a construct evaluation form were used to gather the qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative data was analysed by means of a facet analysis and literature control which included examining other tests or subtests that tapped eye-hand coordination skills. The quantitative data was analysed by means of exploratory common factor analysis using oblique (DQUART) rotation in order to verify the qualitatively identified construct model by specifying a one-factor solution for each underlying construct. While literature suggests that eye-hand coordination is multidimensional in nature the facet analysis revealed that the tasks tapped by Subscale D were not tapping complex skills aside from eye-hand coordination. The facet analysis thus revealed that all the items tap the eye-hand coordination of fine motor tasks and that these items could be grouped into two categories, using writing utensils and object manipulation. The results from the factor analysis confirmed that the items on Subscale D have one underlying construct and further exploration confirmed that these items could in fact be grouped into two categories. The coefficients of congruence for SES and gender were satisfactory and thus the construct model was validated across these groups as well. The study has provided extensive qualitative and quantitative evidence for the construct-related validity of the Eye and Hand Coordination Subscale of the GMDS-ER, thus validating its use as a sound measure of eye-hand coordination development in children aged 2 to 8 years. The content coverage however, seemed to indicate that the tasks required do not adequately cover all the facets of eye-hand coordination and some of these item types are tapped by the other Subscales in the measure. Hence, should the Subscale be used as an independent assessment of eye-hand coordination, the eye-hand coordination development of the child would have a narrow focus. In addition, in reviewing the variety of tasks in the two sections for the older and younger child, the researcher noted that while section III tapped a variety of skills, section IV only focused on skills associated with drawing, copying and writing. A review of the age appropriateness of the items and the item analysis results from the revision seemed to indicate that some of the items assessing the older child may need to be revised. Further, the researcher suggested that the revision should consider adding additional dimensions to the tasks assessed. Overall, it is the researcher‟s opinion that this Subscale was not given adequate attention during the revision process and should future revisions occur, the recommendations from this study should be considered.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
The performance of children with autism on the Revised Extended Griffiths Scales of Mental Development
- Authors: Gowar, Rosemary Vera
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: Psychological tests for children -- South Africa , Autism in children -- South Africa , Children -- Intelligence testing -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:11016 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/353 , Psychological tests for children -- South Africa , Autism in children -- South Africa , Children -- Intelligence testing -- South Africa
- Description: Despite a widespread perception that the number of children coming to clinical attention with Autism Spectrum Disorders has greatly increased, limited South African Research has been conducted on children with Autism. Thus a need exists to accumulate knowledge about the cognitive, psychological and personalsocial growth of children diagnosed with Autism. This study is aimed at exploring the performance of children with Autism between the ages of 7 years (from 72 months) and 8 years (to 95.9 months), in South Africa (SA), utilising the Revised Extended Griffiths Scales of Mental Development (GSMD). The sample comprised an experimental group of 30 children with Autism from four schools for Specialised Education for learners with Autism in SA, and a control group comprised of 30 “normal” children, where normalcy can be broadly defined as “an absence of any sensory, physical or mental handicap”. The six areas of general development assessed included Locomotor, Personal- Social, Language, Eye and Hand co-ordination, Performance, and Practical Reasoning. A non-probability, purposive sampling method was applied. The major findings of the present study were as follows: (i) Children with Autism (years 7 & 8) showed a characteristic cognitive profile when tested with the revised Extended Griffiths Scales. Their performance indicates lower performance on Subcales B, C and F than on the other Subscales. (ii) Some children with Autism experienced major fall-outs, whereas others were slightly below average. The general performance of children with Autism was, however, in the range “cognitively impaired”. (iii) There was significant difference between the Autistic sample and the normal sample on the GQ. xiv In view of the findings, it is recommended that the results of the study, which focused on the children’s areas of developmental weakness, be widely disseminated. This could facilitate the development of therapeutic programmes, so as to allow for appropriate stimulation for children with Autism.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
- Authors: Gowar, Rosemary Vera
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: Psychological tests for children -- South Africa , Autism in children -- South Africa , Children -- Intelligence testing -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:11016 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/353 , Psychological tests for children -- South Africa , Autism in children -- South Africa , Children -- Intelligence testing -- South Africa
- Description: Despite a widespread perception that the number of children coming to clinical attention with Autism Spectrum Disorders has greatly increased, limited South African Research has been conducted on children with Autism. Thus a need exists to accumulate knowledge about the cognitive, psychological and personalsocial growth of children diagnosed with Autism. This study is aimed at exploring the performance of children with Autism between the ages of 7 years (from 72 months) and 8 years (to 95.9 months), in South Africa (SA), utilising the Revised Extended Griffiths Scales of Mental Development (GSMD). The sample comprised an experimental group of 30 children with Autism from four schools for Specialised Education for learners with Autism in SA, and a control group comprised of 30 “normal” children, where normalcy can be broadly defined as “an absence of any sensory, physical or mental handicap”. The six areas of general development assessed included Locomotor, Personal- Social, Language, Eye and Hand co-ordination, Performance, and Practical Reasoning. A non-probability, purposive sampling method was applied. The major findings of the present study were as follows: (i) Children with Autism (years 7 & 8) showed a characteristic cognitive profile when tested with the revised Extended Griffiths Scales. Their performance indicates lower performance on Subcales B, C and F than on the other Subscales. (ii) Some children with Autism experienced major fall-outs, whereas others were slightly below average. The general performance of children with Autism was, however, in the range “cognitively impaired”. (iii) There was significant difference between the Autistic sample and the normal sample on the GQ. xiv In view of the findings, it is recommended that the results of the study, which focused on the children’s areas of developmental weakness, be widely disseminated. This could facilitate the development of therapeutic programmes, so as to allow for appropriate stimulation for children with Autism.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
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