Latest Advances in Assessment of Intelligence and Cognition of Children

Abstract

Intelligence has been an important and controversial topic throughout history. In addition to questions of exactly how to define intelligence, the debate continues today about whether it can be accurately measured or not. The term intelligence quotient, or IQ, was first coined in the early twentieth century by a German psychologist named William Stern. Since that time, intelligence testing has emerged as a widely used tool that has led to the development of many other tests of skill and aptitude. However, it continues to spur debate and controversy over the use of intelligence tests, cultural biases, influences on intelligence and even the very way we define intelligence. In order to gain a deeper understanding of intelligence and the tests that have been developed in an attempt to measure this concept, it is important to understand the history of intelligence testing, the scientific research that has been conducted and the findings that have emerged. The term intelligence tests refers only to the full-length comprehensive batteries that are individually administered, regardless of whether their titles include the word intelligence or not. The major current examples of this type of test batteries– besides the Stanford-Binet, Fifth Edition (SB5) and the Wechsler scales (WISC IV, & WPPSI-IV) – are the Cognitive Assessment System (CAS), the Differential Ability Scales (DAS-II), the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, Second Edition (KABC-II), Leiter International Performance Third Edition (Leiter-3), the Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales (RIAS), the Woodcock-Johnson III Test of Cognitive Abilities (WJ III) and many other intelligence test. The lack of a single, accepted definition of intelligence contributes to disagreements about how to assess it. Without agreement on the definition of intelligence– and even on whether IQ exists – it is difficult to reach agreement on how to measure intelligence