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Canyon College

COURSE SYLLABUS: Psychological Assessment: Intelligence and Cognition

Course Title: Department: Instructor:

PY582 - Psychological Assessment: Intelligence and Cognition Social and Behavioral Sciences Matthew D. Geyer, Psy.D. E-Mail -- Vita

Required Text Books: Online Bookstore

Kaufman, A. F. and Lichtenberger, E.O. (2002). Assessing adolescent and adult intelligence (second edition). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. ISBN #: 020530527X

Required Readings:

American Psychological Association's Code of Ethics: available at www.apa.org

Course Description:

This course is designed to familiarize the student with the history, development, ethical issues, and methods related to intellectual and cognitive assessment. Students will become familiar with the following intellectual measures upon completion of this course: Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - Third Edition (WAIS-III), Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Third Edition (WISC-III), Woodcock-Johnson Battery - Third Edition (WJ-III), the mental status examination, and the clinical interview. In addition, the student will be introduced to the following measures during this course: Kaufman Adult Intelligence Test, the Shipley test, the Slosson Intellectual Test, Ravens Progressive Matrices, the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT), the Wide Range Achievement Test - Third Edition (WRAT-3), and the Kaufman Short Neurological Assessment Procedure (K-SNAP). Students will also be introduced to the documentation of psychological assessment procedures in appropriate report format during this course. It is important for the student to note that this course does not provide the practical supervision which is required for administration of these instruments. Before any of these assessment techniques are utilized, appropriate live supervision and live training should be sought and completed.

METHODS OF INSTRUCTION:

This course will use a variety of instructional techniques employed in a distance learning format. These will include, but are not limited to the following methods:

1. Prepared lectures by the instructor on topics related to the subject area.
2. Required text readings and other assigned readings.
3. Use of message boards maintained by Canyon College.
4. Use of chat rooms maintained by Canyon College when scheduled.
5. Use of e-chalkboards maintained by Canyon College when scheduled.
6. Use of e-mail messages from students to the instructor and from the instructor to the student.
7. Completion of a Sample Psychological Examination Report

Instructional Format:

The student is required to read the lecture material and the required readings before the mid-term and final examinations. Any questions that remain upon completing these tasks will be first addressed via e-mail by the instructor. If the student wishes to further discuss the matter, she/he will schedule a meeting time to meet the instructor in one of the virtual classrooms.

GRADES:

The student will be graded on the basis of their performance on the mid-term and final examinations. The mid-term examination may be comprised of true-false questions, multiple choice questions, and short answer questions. The final examination will follow the same format Each examination will consist of 100 points thereby producing a possible 200 points for the class through examinations.

Based on this point system, the following grading scale will be utilized in order to assign a letter grade for the student's performance at the conclusion of the class.

200 - 180 179 - 160 159 - 140 139 - 120 Below 120

= = = = =

A B C D F

In addition to the mid-term and final examination, all students are required to write a psychological interpretation of sample data. This will be graded as "Pass" or "Fail". Students will revise their interpretation until it is meeting "Pass" criteria. Students who refuse to write this interpretation or who do not make the necessary revisions will receive a "Fail" for this assignment. A "Fail" on this assignment will result in the highest available course grade of a "D". (It is not expected that a student would ever refuse an assignment.)

Due to this being a graduate course, no opportunities for extra credit exist. There will be no exceptions made to this rule.

Class Schedule:

Week One: Ethics, Introduction (history, use of tests, issues of validity, and intelligence Interpretation)

REQUIRED READINGS: APA Code of Ethics Text: Chapter One Lecture: One

Week Two: Heritability and Malleability of IQ, History of the WAIS- III

REQUIRED READINGS: Text: Chapters Two and Three Lecture: Two

Week Three: Individual Difference, Age and Intelligence

REQUIRED READINGS: Text: Chapters Four and Five Lecture: Three

Week Four: WAIS-III research, Factor Analysis of the WAIS-III, VIQ/PIQ Discrepancies - A Neuropsychological Approach, VIQ/PIQ Discrepancies - A Clinical Approach

REQUIRED READINGS: Text: Chapters Six, Seven, Eight, and Nine (Yes, I know this is quite a bit of reading, but you can do it!) Lecture: Four MID-TERM EXAMINATION TO BE COMPLETED!!!

Week Five: Profile Interpretations of the WAIS-III

REQUIRED READINGS: Text: Chapters Ten, Eleven, and Twelve Lecture: Five Start writing the interpretation!!! This lecture contains your data for the interpretation.

Week Six: Kaufman Tests

REQUIRED READINGS: Text: Chapter Thirteen Lecture: Six

Week Seven: Woodcock-Johnson Battery - Third Edition (WJ-III)

REQUIRED READINGS: Text: Chapter Fourteen Lecture: Seven

Week Eight: Brief tests of intelligence and other related abilities

REQUIRED READINGS: Text: Chapter Fifteen Lecture: Eight FINAL EXAMINATION TO BE COMPLETED!!! Interpretation must receive a grade of "PASS" before taking the final examination.

NOTE: The instructor reserves the right to make changes in this syllabus at any time. All students enrolled in this class will be advised of the changes when they are made.

A Word On Academic Integrity:

This should really go without saying, but cheating is not allowed. If there is any indication that you have cheated, I will notify the Canyon College administration of the suspicion of cheating. If I have evidence that a student is cheating, I will provide the student with the grade of "F" and will petition the college to expel the student.

A Word On Your Text Reading:

I recognize that weeks four and five are heavy on the reading requirements. I planned this so as not to put too much pressure on you in the beginning or the end of class. Don't panic with these lengthy readings. You can do it. Believe me, I had much worse in grad school (I actually had one class which required students to read a 400 page book in one week... oh, the agony!).

Finally, A Brief Mention of Your Examinations

Your mid-term examination will be over everything from week one to week four. This includes the text information, lectures, and outside readings. The final examination will be over weeks five through eight, lecture and text material. However, the final may also include ethics issues presented in the code of ethics and the introductory lectures.