Essentials of Intellectual Disability Assessment and Identification

A practical guide to understanding, assessing, and helping individuals with intellectual disabilities Expert advice on the latest test instruments and their clinical applications Conveniently formatted for rapid reference

A concise, up–to–date overview of intellectual disability evaluation and assessment

Essentials of Intellectual Disability Assessment and Identification offers a practical, concise overview of the nature of intellectual disability and adaptive skills functioning in children, adolescents, and adults. Written to promote a deeper understanding of the use of assessment data to inform interventions in clinical practice, actionable coverage includes the latest information on prevalence, causes, differential diagnoses, behavioral and social concerns, test instruments, and the new DSM–5® diagnostic criteria. It also addresses a wide range of legal issues and state policies affected by the change in diagnostic criteria.

Like all the volumes in the Essentials of Psychological Assessment series, this book is designed to help busy practitioners and school psychologists quickly acquire the knowledge and skills they need to make optimal use of major psychological assessment instruments. Each concise chapter features numerous callout boxes highlighting key concepts, bulleted points, and extensive illustrative material, as well as test questions that help you gauge and reinforce your grasp of the information covered.

Essentials of Intellectual Disability Assessment and Identification offers unmatched guidance and direction for providing feedback to parents of children and adolescents diagnosed with an intellectual disability, as well as for caregivers and advocates of adults seeking community and vocational support services.

Other titles in the Essentials of Psychological Assessment series:

Essentials of Assessment Report Writing
Essentials of Processing Assessment
Essentials of WISC®–IV Assessment, Second Edition
Essentials of WIAT®–II and KTEA–II Assessment
Essentials of WJ III® Cognitive Abilities Assessment
Essentials of WJ III® Tests of Achievement Assessment
Essentials of WPPSI–III Assessment
Essentials of Cross–Battery Assessment, Third Edition
Essentials of KABC–II Assessment
Essentials of WMS®–III Assessment
Essentials of Specific Learning Disability Identification
Essentials of Evidence–Based Academic Interventions

Visit us on the Web at: www.wiley.com/psychology

Series Preface xiii

Acknowledgments xv

One History of Intellectual Disability 1

Early Beginnings 1

The Turn of the Century: 1900 to 1950 4

The Age of Assessment: Late 1950s to 1970 6

1980s to the Present 8

Summary 14

Test Yourself 15

Two Prevalence, Causes, Issues, and Comorbid Disorders 17

Etiology of Intellectual Disabilities: Subtypes 17

Differential Diagnoses 27

Comorbidity 27

Test Yourself 28

Three Current Intellectual Disability Diagnostic and Federal Education Criteria 30

The DSM 5 30

American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities 34

Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 37

Differential Diagnoses and Comorbid Conditions 44

Specific Learning Disabilities 46

Test Yourself 46

Four Legal Issues and Concerns 49

Education and the Law: Issues and Concerns 49

Test Yourself 60

Five Theories of Intelligence and the Flynn Effect 63

Spearman s Two–Factor Theory 63

Thurstone s Primary Mental Abilities 64

Cattell–Horn–Carroll Theory 64

TriarchicTheory of Intelligence 66

Planning, Attention–Arousal, Simultaneous, and Successive Theory of Intelligence 66

Theory of Multiple Intelligences 67

Flynn Effect 68

Intellectual Disability and Capital Punishment Cases 70

Test Yourself 72

Six Assessment of an Intellectual Disability 74

Designing a Test Battery 76

Areas to Assess 78

Test Yourself 91

Seven Integration of Assessment Results 93

Report Sample #1 93

Report Sample #2 100

Test Yourself 108

Eight Postassessment Planning 110

Common Parent Reactions to Learning a Child has a Disability 111

Guidelines for Parents of Individuals with Developmental Disabilities 112

Transition Planning 113

Self–Determination and Individuals with Developmental Disabilities 115

Application of Self–Determination Practices 117

Results ofThe Arc Survey: FINDS 2011 120

Test Yourself 122

Appendix A State Departments of Special Education 124

Appendix B AAIDD and The Arc Position Statement on the Criminal Justice System 133

Appendix C American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) 138

Appendix D The Arc Position Statement on Self–Determination 140

Appendix E AAIDD andThe Arc Position Statement on Self–Advocacy 142

Appendix F The Arc Position Statement on Education 146

Appendix G The Arc Position Statement on Employment 149

Appendix H Helpful Websites 153

References 157

About the Authors 166

Index 169

ALAN W. BRUE, PHD, is a nationally certified school psychologist. He provides a wide range of school psychological services to metro–Atlanta school districts.

LINDA WILMSHURST, PHD, is an associate professor of psychology at Elon University and a licensed clinical (ABPP) and school psychologist. She authored six books, including Essentials of Child Psychopathology and Clinical and Educational Child Psychology.

Alan and Linda co–authored A Parent′s Guide to Special Education and The Complete Guide to Special Education.