Connections in Theory, Experience, and Practice of Educational Psychology

Abstract

This practicum took place at the Counselling Assessment Intervention and Research Services (CAIRS) office in the College of Education at the University of Saskatchewan from January 3, 2017 to March 8, 2017. The goals of this practicum were to develop, improve, and refine my skills in assessments and cross-battery work, to learn and practice at least three assessments that were unfamiliar to me, to apply what I learned through coursework to real-world assessment settings, to increase my competency and confidence with assessments and interview skills, to perform report writing and feedback procedures, and to reflect on my practice and learn from my Professional Associate. These goals were met by conducting four assessments with clients from various backgrounds (i.e. elementary, high school, and university students, and a client working in a professional career). The assessment tools used included: Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children- Fifth Edition, Canadian Norms (WISC-V); Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition, Canadian Norms (WAIS-IV); Woodcock-Johnson IV Tests of Cognitive Abilities (WJ-IV COG);Woodcock-Johnson IV Tests of Oral Language (WJ-IV OL); Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing-2 (CTOPP-2); Woodcock Johnson Tests of Achievement-Fourth Edition (WJ-IV ACH); Feifer Assessment of Reading (FAR); Feifer Assessment of Math (FAM); Test of Word Reading Efficiency, Second Edition (TOWRE-2); Test of Orthographic Competence (TOC); Weiss Symptom Inventory (WSR); The Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R); Behavior Assessment Scale for Children-3 (BASC-3); Beck Youth Inventories – Second Edition (BYI-II); Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children Second Edition (MASC-2); Children's Depression Inventory, Second Edition (CDI-2); Comprehensive Executive Function Inventory (CEFI); Brown Attention Deficit Disorder Scales (Brown ADD Scales); Barkely Deficits in Executive Functioning – Child, Long Form (BDEFS-CA); Barkley Adult ADHD Rating Scale–IV (BAARS-IV): Self-Report: Current Symptoms and Childhood Smptoms; Conners Continuous Performance Test – 3 (CPT-3); Conners Continuous Auditory Test of Attention (CATA); and the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System, third edition (ABAS-3). I gained a deeper understanding of the importance of using a cross-battery approach, and applying the Cattell-Horn-Carroll Theory (CHC-Theory) in psycho-educational assessments. Furthermore, I was able to work through challenges in, and understand best practices for interpreting data, report writing, and reporting results.