How to use psychological tests for functional diagnosis: the case of assessment of learning disabilities

Abstract

Very often the diagnostic process provides only a descriptive label of the disorder. A useful diagnosis must reach the precise description and the functional interpretation of the deficits shown by a given individual. To this aim, four separate but intertwined steps are required: (1) clinical interview to collect personal and clinical anamnesis and to figure out the sociocultural context; (2) screening tests to describe the general cognitive picture and to detect the impaired functions; (3) standardized batteries to categorize the specific cognitive disorders according to the accredited taxonomies; (4) ad hoc investigation to identify the impaired cognitive components in the individual patient according to a sound theoretical model of the functional architecture of the cognitive processes. Only doing in this way, personalized educational and rehabilitative interventions may be planned and specific goals can be achieved.

Citation

Balboni, G. and Cubelli, R. (2011), "How to use psychological tests for functional diagnosis: the case of assessment of learning disabilities", Scruggs, T.E. and Mastropieri, M.A. (Ed.) Assessment and Intervention (Advances in Learning and Behavioral Disabilities, Vol. 24), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 79-92. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0735-004X(2011)0000024006