Assessment of verbal comprehension and non-verbal reasoning when standard response mode is challenging: A comparison of different response modes and an exploration of their clinical usefulness

摘要

Objective : Assessment of cognition is important for providing children with developmentally appropriate interventions. Often children with severe speech and motor disorders are not assessed, as standardized assessment is perceived as challenging. This study investigates how assessments of cognition can be conducted using alternative response modes. Method : The study has two parts. The response modes finger pointing (FP), gaze pointing (GP), and partner-assisted scanning (PAS) were compared when assessing verbal comprehension and visuospatial abilities in 27 typically developing (TD) children, aged 5; 10–6; 10?years. Clinical utility was investigated by assessing 69 children with cerebral palsy (CP), using FP or GP as response mode depending on motor functioning. Results : In TD first graders, using alternative response modes did not influence the test results (Wilks’s lambda?=?0.871, F (2, 23) = 1.70, p ?=?0.204). PAS was more time consuming than FP and GP on some of the tasks. In the CP group, considerable individual variation was found both when using FP (standard scores 40–138) and GP (37–120). Conclusions : Type of response mode did not impact test results in typically developing children. Assessment of cognition is possible even when children have severe speech and movement impairments.