ABSTRACT
The goal of preschool assessment is to estimate the overall functioning of young children, while identifying strengths and weaknesses that inform evidence-based interventions to enhance the overall performance of the child. Evaluations need to focus on construct-relevant attributes (e.g., intelligence), while limiting the influences of construct-irrelevant sources of variation (e.g., fatigue, lack of cooperation, emotional lability). When conducting preschool assessments in a standardized fashion, astute clinical skill and wise selection of instruments reduce variability in test scores attributable to measurement error and construct-irrelevant sources of variability. This chapter addresses how to create optimal testing situations that maximize the examiner’s confidence in the accuracy of test findings.
