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Information and Communication Technology-based Assessment for Children with Developmental Needs: Kids Brain Balancer
Tomoko Sugiyama1, Keiji Hashimoto1, Nobuyuki Kawate1
1Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Showa University School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan.
Insights
The Kids Brain Balancer app shows good reliability for assessing cognitive skills in children with special needs. This tablet-based tool offers promising results for evaluating intellectual and cognitive functions.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Educational Psychology
- Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Background:
- The Kids Brain Balancer is a tablet-based application designed for cognitive assessment.
- Children in special education settings require reliable and valid tools for evaluating cognitive abilities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the test-retest reliability of the Kids Brain Balancer app.
- To gather preliminary evidence of the app's validity by comparing scores with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fourth Edition (WISC-IV).
Main Methods:
- 36 children (aged 7-11) in special education completed the Kids Brain Balancer tasks multiple times over one month.
- Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were used to analyze score reliability.
- Score agreement between the Kids Brain Balancer and WISC-IV indices was evaluated.
Main Results:
- Six of the nine tasks demonstrated moderate-to-good reliability.
- Correlations between the Kids Brain Balancer and WISC-IV composite scores were moderate-to-strong across repeated administrations.
- Visuospatial/executive tasks showed better initial correlation, while verbal/working memory tasks improved agreement by the third session.
Conclusions:
- The Kids Brain Balancer shows initial evidence of validity and test-retest reliability for cognitive assessment in children with special needs.
- The app is a convenient tool that could support the evaluation of diverse developmental needs.
- Further enhancements and broader testing are recommended to establish its utility.
Introduction:
This study examined the test-retest reliability of the Kids Brain Balancer, a tablet-based cognitive assessment app, among children in the special education system and gathered preliminary validity evidence by evaluating score agreement with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fourth Edition (WISC-IV).
Methods:
A total of 36 children undergoing special education (aged 7-11 years) completed the Balancer tasks more than three times for over 1 month. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) facilitated the analysis of score reliability across sessions. Score agreement with Wechsler indices were evaluated for each task.
Results:
Of the nine tasks, six demonstrated moderate-to-good reliability for raw or age-adjusted scores. The Full-Scale Intelligence Quotient (FSIQ), composite scores on the WISC-IV, and Balancer index scores on several tasks exhibited moderate-to-strong correlations over three repeated test administrations. Agreement with the FSIQ varied; however, most visuospatial/executive tasks initially correlated better, whereas verbal/working memory tasks converged by the third session. Those with lower baseline scores exhibited improvement in agreement over repeat testing.
Conclusions:
This study provides initial evidence supporting the validity and test-retest reliability of the Kids Brain Balancer in evaluating intellectual/cognitive functioning among children undergoing special education. Enhancement and wider testing could establish this convenient tool to support evaluation of diverse developmental needs.
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