The goal is to publish an assessment battery for normal and disabled children from 2 1/2 to 7 years of age and to make it available to clinicians, educators, and researchers. The battery will incorporate three innovative features that are important for effective assessment of children's cognitive functioning and are not included on any other early childhood assessment battery. These features are 1) assessment of a broad range of abilities, 2) assessment of abilities as separately as possible, and 3) assessment of the same abilities across the entire age range of the test. These features make possible the identification of a child's cognitive strengths and weaknesses, the use of a single subtest to assess a particular ability, and the evaluation of intellectual growth longitudinally. The goal of Phase I work would be the construction of the assessment battery; therefore, we will utilize data already obtained from the testing of a national sample of children on eleven tasks that assess central components of cognitive and neurological functioning. Item Response Theory and the three-parameter statistical model would be used to create a set of scales that have the best statistical qualities across the age and ability range covered by the test.Awardee's statement of the potential commercial applications of the research: We expect the battery to be purchased by both clinical and educational professionals who perform cognitive and neuropsychological assessments of young children. Theses professional win be able to evaluate patterns of changing strengths and weaknesses in individual children. The battery would also provide an important tool for clinical and experimental investigators who would have the need to assess cognitive functions in young children for research purposes.National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
