Triagem de indicadores de altas habilidades/superdotação: validade de critério

<p>O estudo buscou investigar as evidências de validade de critério de um instrumento intitulado Triagem de Indicadores de Altas Habilidades/Superdotação (AH/S). A escala, respondida pelo professor, avalia o desenvolvimento do estudante em cinco áreas: capacidade intelectual geral, habilidades acadêmicas específicas, liderança, criatividade e talento artístico. A amostra foi composta por 568 participantes: 213 do grupo-controle e 355 do grupo-critério. Os resultados da análise de variância fatorial e do teste t de Student indicaram diferenças de médias significativas entre os grupos, confirmando o tipo de evidência de validade investigada. A regressão logística também foi conduzida visando identificar o quanto a pontuação em cada área específica da escala conseguiria prever a área de identificação do indivíduo com AH/S.</p><p><strong>Palavras-chave: </strong>Aluno com Altas Habilidades/Superdotação, Validade Estatística, Construção de Teste, Avaliação Psicológica.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Clasificación de indicadores de altas habilidades/superdotación: validez de criterio</strong></p><p>El estudio procuró investigar las evidencias de la validez de criterio de un instrumento llamado Identificación de Indicadores de Altas Habilidades/Superdotación. La escala, respondida por el profesor, evalúa el desarrollo del estudiante en cinco áreas: capacidad intelectual general, habilidades específicas para estudios, liderazgo, creatividad y talento artístico. La muestra fue compuesta por 568 participantes: 213 del grupo-control y 355 del grupo-criterio. Los resultados del análisis de varianza factorial y del Test t de Student indicaron diferencias significativas de promedios entre los grupos, confirmando las evidencias investigadas. La regresión logística también fue realizada, teniéndose el objetivo de identificar cuánto la puntuación en cada área específica de la escala conseguía prever el área de identificación del individuo con altas habilidades/superdotación.</p><p><strong>Palabras clave: </strong>Alumno con Altas Habilidades/Superdotación, Validez Estadística, Elaboración de Test, Evaluación Psicológica.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Gifted indicators screening scale: criterion validity</strong></p><p>The study aimed to investigate evidence of criterion validity of an instrument named Screening of Indicators of High Skills/Giftedness. The scale, answered by the teacher, evaluates the student’s development in five areas: general intellectual ability, specific academic abilities, leadership, creativity and artistic talent. The sample consisted of 568 participants: 213 in the control group and 355 in the criterion group. The results of factorial variance analysis and the Student t-test indicated significant differences of the means between groups, confirming the evidence investigated. Logistic regression analysis was also conducted to identify how much the score in each specific area of the scale could predict the area high skills/giftedness identified for the individual.</p><p><strong>Keywords: </strong>Student with High Skills/Giftedness, Statistical Validity, Test Construction, Psychological Assessment.</p>

Do Global Ability Composites Differentially Predict Academic Achievement Across Gender?

The present study examined whether global ability influences on reading, writing, and math achievement are generalizable across gender in children and adolescents in Grades 1 to 4 ( n = 1,276), 5 to 8 ( n = 1,265), and 9 to 12 ( n = 1,042) using multiple group structural equation modeling with the standardization samples for the Woodcock–Johnson IV. Results showed a small female advantage in writing achievement across grade levels. The General Intellectual Ability (GIA) composite showed some evidence of slope bias with math achievement, and the Fluid-Crystallized (G f-G c) composite showed some evidence of slope bias with math and reading achievement. The GIA and G f-G c composite scores showed evidence of intercept bias mostly in the area of writing achievement. Findings are generally consistent with previous research showing minimal gender bias in global intelligence predicting achievement.

Neuropsychological outcomes in CHD beyond childhood: a meta-analysis

BackgroundRisk for neurodevelopmental delay in infants and children with CHD is well established, but longer-term outcomes are equivocal. A meta-analysis was conducted to establish whether cognitive deficits remain beyond childhood – into teenage and young adult years.Methods and resultsA total of 18 unique samples, involving adolescents, teenagers, and adults with CHD significant enough to require invasive intervention, and sourced through searches of Web of Science, MEDLINE, CINAHL Plus, and PsychInfo, met the inclusion criteria. These included the use of standardised neuropsychology tests across 10 domains of cognitive functioning and the reporting of effect size differences with controls. Reports of patients with chromosomal or genetic abnormalities were excluded. Pooled effect sizes suggested no significant differences between CHD samples and controls in terms of general intellectual ability and verbal reasoning. However, small–medium effects sizes were noted (0.33–0.44) and were statistically significant within the domains of non-verbal reasoning, processing speed, attention, auditory–verbal memory, psychomotor abilities, numeracy, and literacy with executive functioning also emerging as significant when one study outlier was excluded. We also included quality assurance statistics including Cochran’s Q, T, and I2 statistics, leave-one-out analyses, and assessment of publication bias. These often suggested study variability, possibly related to the heterogeneity of diagnostic groups included, and different tests used to measure the same construct.ConclusionsHeterogeneity indicated that moderators affect cognitive outcomes in CHD. Nevertheless, deficits across cognitive domains were discerned, which are likely to have functional impact and which should inform practice with this clinical population.

A comparative meta-analysis of neurocognition in first-degree relatives of patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

Objective:Cognitive impairment is a familial and heritable aspect of major psychoses and might be a shared vulnerability marker for schizophrenia and BP. However, it is not clear whether some aspects of cognitive deficits are uniquely associated with risk for specific diagnoses.Methods:A novel meta-analysis of cognitive functions in first-degree relatives of probands with bipolar disorder (BP-Rel) and schizophrenia (Sch-Rel) was conducted. Current meta-analysis included 20 studies and compared cognitive functions of 1341 Sch-Rel, 939 BP-Rel and 1427 healthy controls.Results:Sch-Rel was associated with cognitive deficits in all domains (d = 0.20–0.58) and BP-Rel underperformed healthy controls in processing speed, verbal fluency and speed based executive function tests (d = 0.33–0.41). Sch-Rel underperformed BP-Rel in general intellectual ability, working memory, verbal memory, planning, processing speed and fluency (d = 0.24–0.42).Conclusions:Inefficiency in processing information and impaired processing speed might be common vulnerability factors for major psychoses. On the other hand, low performance in accuracy based tasks and deficits in general intellectual ability, verbal learning, planning and working memory might be more specifically associated with risk for schizophrenia.

Premature mortality in autism spectrum disorder

BackgroundMortality has been suggested to be increased in autism spectrum disorder (ASD).AimsTo examine both all-cause and cause-specific mortality in ASD, as well as investigate moderating role of gender and intellectual ability.MethodOdds ratios (ORs) were calculated for a population-based cohort of ASD probands (n = 27 122, diagnosed between 1987 and 2009) compared with gender-, age- and county of residence-matched controls (n = 2 672 185).ResultsDuring the observed period, 24 358 (0.91%) individuals in the general population died, whereas the corresponding figure for individuals with ASD was 706 (2.60%; OR = 2.56; 95% CI 2.38–2.76). Cause-specific analyses showed elevated mortality in ASD for almost all analysed diagnostic categories. Mortality and patterns for cause-specific mortality were partly moderated by gender and general intellectual ability.ConclusionsPremature mortality was markedly increased in ASD owing to a multitude of medical conditions.

Bilingual education and at-risk students

This article reviews research that has examined the linguistic and academic outcomes of at-risk learners in bilingual/immersion programs. Specifically, we review research on at-risk students with: disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, low levels of academic or general intellectual ability, poor first language ability, special education needs (including students at risk for or with language and/or reading impairment), and students who speak non-standard varieties of their first language and/or come from ethnically diverse backgrounds, including minority ethnic groups. We conclude by identifying topics and issues that warrant future research.

Visual-cognitive processing deficits in pediatric multiple sclerosis

Background: Children with multiple sclerosis (MS) can suffer significant cognitive deficits. This study investigates the sensitivity and validity in pediatric MS of two visual processing tests borrowed from the adult literature, the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (BVMTR) and the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT). Objective: To test the hypothesis that visual processing is disproportionately impacted in pediatric MS by comparing performance with that of healthy controls on the BVMTR and SDMT. Methods: We studied 88 participants (43 MS, 45 controls) using a neuropsychological assessment battery including measures of intelligence, language, visual memory, and processing speed. Patients and demographically matched controls were compared to determine which tests are most sensitive in pediatric MS. Results: Statistically significant differences were found between the MS and control groups on BVMTR Total Learning ( t (84) = 4.04, p < 0.001, d = 0.87), BVMTR Delayed Recall ( t (84) = 4.45, p < 0.001, d = 0.96), and SDMT ( t (38) = 2.19, p = 0.035, d = 0.69). No significant differences were found between groups on confrontation naming or general intellectual ability. Validity coefficients exploring correlation between BVMTR, SDMT, and disease characteristics were consistent with the adult literature. Conclusions: This study found that BVMTR and SDMT may be useful in assessing children and adolescents with MS.