Validity Testing in Child and Adolescent Assessment: Evaluating Exaggeration, Feigning, and Noncredible Effort

by Michael Kirkwood PhD, ABPP/CN (Editor)

Overview

Thoroughly covering the "why" and "how" of validity testing with children and adolescents, this book is edited and written by leaders in the field. Feigning or noncredible effort during psychological and neuropsychological assessments can have considerable repercussions for diagnosis, treatment, and use of resources. Practical guidance is provided for detecting and managing noncredible responding, including vivid case material. The reasons that children may feign during testing are also explored. Along with information relevant to all assessment settings, the book features specific chapters on educational, medical, sport-related, forensic, and Social Security Disability contexts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781462521869
Publisher:	Guilford Publications, Inc.
Publication date:	09/14/2015
Series:	Evidence-Based Practice in Neuropsychology Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	302
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Michael W. Kirkwood, PhD, ABPP-CN, is Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He is also Director of the Psychology/Neuropsychology Program in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Children’s Hospital Colorado, and founder and Codirector of the hospital’s Concussion Program. Dr. Kirkwood is board certified in Clinical Neuropsychology and board certified as a subspecialist in Pediatric Neuropsychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology, and has served on multiple boards of directors and expert committees. He has conducted extensive research on traumatic brain injury and pediatric validity testing in children and teens, has lectured widely, and has published more than 50 journal articles and 10 book chapters. He is coeditor of the book Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Children and Adolescents.

Table of Contents

I. Introduction
1. A Rationale for Performance Validity Testing in Child and Adolescent Assessment, Michael W. Kirkwood
2. Terminology and Diagnostic Concepts, Elisabeth M. S. Sherman
3. Understanding Deception from a Developmental Perspective, Eric Peterson & Robin L. Peterson
4. Performance and Symptom Validity: A Perspective from the Adult Literature, Glenn J. Larrabee
II. Detection Methods and Other Validity Test Usage Matters
5. Review of Pediatric Performance and Symptom Validity Tests, Michael W. Kirkwood
6. Clinical Strategies to Assess the Credibility of Presentations in Children, Dominic A. Carone
7. Motivations Behind Noncredible Presentations: Why Children Feign and How to Make This Determination, David A. Baker & Michael W. Kirkwood
8. Managing Noncredible Performance in Pediatric Clinical Assessment, Amy K. Connery &Yana Suchy
9. Ethical Considerations in Pediatric Validity Testing, William S. MacAllister & Marsha Vasserman
III. Validity Testing across Evaluative Settings
10. Child and Adolescent Psychoeducational Evaluations, Allyson G. Harrison
11. Pediatric Clinical Neuropsychological Evaluations with Medical Populations, Brian L. Brooks
12. Pediatric Sports-Related Concussion Evaluations, Martin L. Rohling, Jennifer Langhinrichsen-Rohling, & Melissa M. Womble
13. Pediatric Forensic Neuropsychological Evaluations, Jacobus Donders
14. Disability: Social Security Supplemental Security Income Exams for Children, Michael D. Chafetz

Interviews

Neuropsychologists, clinical psychologists working with children and adolescents, school psychologists, and others involved in pediatric psychological assessment. May serve as a supplemental text in graduate-level courses.

Editorial Reviews

"The present volume offers the clinician for the first time clarity regarding clinical judgment, performance validity test (PVT) implementation, and decision making in a very readable and thorough review of these topics….The authors do an excellent job of clarifying what is and is not known about the topic for the reader….This book is comprehensive in its treatment of pediatric validity assessment issues. It is very well written….This book is appropriate for those looking for a starting place who have many questions about PVT usage in children, and experienced professionals who are looking for practical advice on managing noncredible performance in clinical settings. Given the relatively limited body of literature regarding PVTs in children, this book does a surprisingly good job of going into depth on the topic. There is no other resource out there like this….Even within the text, the authors and editor have taken care to reduce redundancy so that the same information is not repeatedly covered in each chapter. Given the importance of the topics covered, it is a welcome addition to any clinician conducting neuropsychological evaluations with children."

Applied Neuropsychology: Child

"The present volume offers the clinician for the first time clarity regarding clinical judgment, performance validity test (PVT) implementation, and decision making in a very readable and thorough review of these topics….The authors do an excellent job of clarifying what is and is not known about the topic for the reader….This book is comprehensive in its treatment of pediatric validity assessment issues. It is very well written….This book is appropriate for those looking for a starting place who have many questions about PVT usage in children, and experienced professionals who are looking for practical advice on managing noncredible performance in clinical settings. Given the relatively limited body of literature regarding PVTs in children, this book does a surprisingly good job of going into depth on the topic. There is no other resource out there like this….Even within the text, the authors and editor have taken care to reduce redundancy so that the same information is not repeatedly covered in each chapter. Given the importance of the topics covered, it is a welcome addition to any clinician conducting neuropsychological evaluations with children."

Applied Neuropsychology: Child

This is an important and timely book….[It] should certainly become integral reading in any graduate neuropsychological, psychological, or school psychology program where psychometric and psychological assessment is taught….It would be wise to have it included in anyone’s library who provides such testing services.

Child and Family Behavior Therapy

"This much-needed volume makes the case that validity testing must now be considered an essential component of child psychological assessments. Experts in this growing field of study summarize what is known about feigning and malingering in a variety of child clinical settings and provide indispensable guidance for practitioners. Congratulations to Kirkwood for bringing together state-of-the-art research and clinical practices. Recommended for clinicians, researchers, and students in disciplines where psychological assessment of children is a core activity, including clinical child and school psychology, neuropsychology, and forensic child psychology."—Russell A. Barkley, PhD, ABPP, ABCN, Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine (retired)

"This groundbreaking volume is an authoritative desk reference for clinicians and researchers that ushers in the nascent era of child and adolescent validity testing. Kirkwood presents a superb synthesis of knowledge that should be added to the syllabus of every graduate-level course on psychological testing. It is crucial reading for all who conduct psychological evaluations of children and adolescents, including pediatric clinical neuropsychologists, child psychologists, and school psychologists. Others who are involved in reading psychological reports or evaluating pediatric outcomes research will find important insights about pediatric test performance and interpretation."—Ida Sue Baron, PhD, ABPP, private practice, Potomac, Maryland, and Fairfax, Virginia

"A unique resource for all psychologists and students who do performance-based cognitive or academic assessments with children. This excellent volume brings together everything you need to know about this core topic."—Alan S. Kaufman, PhD, Yale Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine

From the Publisher

Reviewer: Christopher J Graver, PhD, ABPP-CN(Madigan Healthcare System)
Description: Effort and engagement during neuropsychological assessment can have a profound impact on the obtained results, more than even severe traumatic brain injury, and thus is a crucial part of any assessment. The literature base for this in adults has grown exponentially and is a recommended part of adult assessment, but there is less attention paid to the use validity testing in children and adolescents.
Purpose: This book is intended to guide clinicians in the use of validity tests during exams to assess the accuracy of the obtained results when working with children and adolescents. It aims to fill the gap in clinicians' knowledge about appropriate validity test use in this population.
Audience: The audience is clinical neuropsychologists working with a pediatric population, as well as students of those disciplines. The editor and contributing authors are well known and respected in the field, and most are board certified.
Features: A rationale for the assessment of validity in pediatric populations opens the book and is followed by a review of deception from a developmental perspective that helps to give a more patient-centered approach to understanding reasons why validity might be failed rather than just interpretation by the numbers. The book then lists common validity tests used in adult populations and provides a current review of the literature as they apply to children. The probative value of describing the tests is unclear given that neuropsychologists are already familiar with them and may coach others who might be interested in the tests (e.g., examinees, attorneys). Other sources of information for determining noncredible presentations are provided and examples of how they can fit into the test data are discussed. Case examples illustrate the motivations behind noncredible presentations and how to handle them in testing and feedback sessions, drawing on clinical experience as well as solid references to the existing literature on the topic. An outline and table details all ethical tenets that apply to validity testing in children, giving readers a quick reference guide to these major issues. The final section of the book addresses validity testing in specific types of evaluations, including academic, sports concussion, and forensic evaluations. It includes striking examples from the literature that highlight the need for validity testing in children and the folly of omitting it.
Assessment: This is an instructive and informative book on pediatric validity testing that lays out the importance of assessing validity, the methods with which to assess validity, and the use of validity testing in specific types of examinations that commonly might call into question the accuracy of the obtained results. It is highly recommended reading for neuropsychologists involved in pediatric practice.

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