PSYCHOLOGICAL-TESTING FOR CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRISTS - A REVIEW OF THE PAST 10 YEARS

Objective: To provide a review of psychological tests often used with children and adolescents. Method: A description of how psychological t ests are used and how to interpret various types of scores is provided . Subsequently, psychological tests used to assess intelligence, acade mic achievement, neuropsychological functions, and personality are rev iewed. Results: There are numerous well-normed, reliable, and valid in struments that are available for assessing intellectual and academic f unctioning in children and adolescents. Neuropsychological tests, desi gned to assess objectively a wide range of cognitive functions, are av ailable and extremely useful for designing treatment plans for patient s with cognitive difficulties. Despite their popularity, most projecti ve tests have relatively weak psychometric data supporting their relia bility and/or validity. Conclusions: Psychological testing provides ob jective measures of behavior that are of considerable utility for eval uating children and adolescents. However, psychological test data, in isolation, will rarely be adequate for providing a DSM diagnosis, and test scores are best interpreted in the context of other clinical data . Psychological test data can be very useful for developing a comprehe nsive treatment plan that addresses the patient's cognitive and emotio nal needs.