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Find the Hidden Object. Understanding Play in Psychological Assessments
Alessandra Fasulo1, Janhavi Shukla2, Stephanie Bennett3
1Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth Portsmouth, UK.
Frontiers in Psychology
|April 11, 2017
Summary
Psychological assessments use play-like activities to evaluate child development. This study analyzed a specific assessment, revealing how interaction shapes play and learning, suggesting improvements for test design.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Child Assessment
- Interaction Analysis
Background:
- Standardized psychological assessments are crucial for evaluating child development.
- Play-like activities are common in assessments for young children, but constraints exist.
- Understanding the nature of play within assessment is key to interpreting results.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the characteristics of play in psychological assessments.
- To explore expectations of children's performance during assessments.
- To identify abilities supporting test activities and interaction dynamics.
Main Methods:
- Conversation Analysis (CA) was employed.
- Videorecordings of child-practitioner interactions during assessment administration were analyzed.
- Focus was on a specific test item ('Find the hidden object') with a child with Down syndrome.
Main Results:
- Assessors use child-directed speech to engage children in assessment tasks.
- Test objects did not always elicit intended actions, requiring assessor modeling.
- Assessment interactions can shift from exploratory play to instructional, right-or-wrong formats.
Conclusions:
- When play is framed by an interaction partner, relational aspects and cues for play development are emphasized.
- Sequential analysis of assessment interactions can reveal mutual sense-making procedures.
- This analysis can inform the design and evaluation of more effective child assessments.
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