Normative Data on Seguin Form Board Test

Transcription

1 Indian Journal of Clinical Psychology Copyright, 2008, Indian Association of 2009, Vol. 35, No.2, Cli nical Psychologists (ISSN ) Normative Data on Seguin Form Board Test 1 Basavarajappa, 2 D. Venkatesan, and 3 M. Vidya The present study is an attempt to revalidate and develop normative data on a non-verbal test of intelligence-seguin Form Board (SFB). The SFB was administered on a sample of 720 children including 361 boys and 359 girls between age group of months (Mean Age: months; SD: 20.82) drawn from rural and urban areas and belonging to different social economic status groups. Results indicate that SFB continues to remain a valid and reliable speed test of intelligence at lower age levels of children. However, there is need to evolve separate norms on SFB for different age groups, socio-economic status levels, and area of residence (rural and urban) respectively. An attempt is also made in this study to demonstrate a modified procedure of test performance as relatively more appropriate, superior and effective for estimation of mental ages/iq of children on this test. Keywords: Seguin Form Board, normative data, Indian norms, chronological age, mental age, modified administration Prior to Itard s (1932) pioneering work, attempts were made to assess the intellectual (non-verbal) abilities of children who could not or would not speak more directly. Seguin (1856) developed a simple but a unique testing method using form boards for assessment of intellectual abilities in children through non-verbal means. The instrument and its many derivatives have become widely used and are well known universally as Seguin Form Board (SFB) (Du Bois, 1970). Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale includes a Seguin-like form board, a merger of efforts by Binet, Simon and Seguin -the three pioneers in the field of intelligence test development. Since early 1900s, non-verbal intelligence testing has developed methods for assessing cognitive functioning of children who could not or would not speak. The SFB was basically constructed as teaching aid under Physiological Method for children with mental retardation (Seguin, 1866). Later, it was used to assess general intelligence of children in pre-primary and primary school years (Spearman, 1927); or for measuring visual discrimination and matching, eye-hand coordination and cognitive-perceptual abilities in children (David & Virginia, 1972). Wallin (1916) regards the SFB as a most useful device to test form perception, movement and intelligence-that is, psycho-motor development. Form Board tests were also used for measurement of ability to manipulate concrete material in contrast to verbal/ abstract ability. Wallin (1916) observed that the performance (speed) on form board increases with chronological and mental age-more rapidly in early years. He suggested that tests are of little value diagnostically unless periodically fortified with reliable age norms. According to David and Virginia (1972), analysis of SFB test has shown that vector loadings for the test to differ among age levels, indicating that the test may be measuring different abilities at different age levels. There have been efforts to develop Indian norms for SFB from time to time. In a survey on Mumbai school children (N= 378) within a limited age range (6-8 years), the speed of performance was found to be slower than their Western counterparts (Ramachandran, Deshpande, Apte,., Shukla, and Shah, (1968). Around the same time, Bharatraj (1971) improved on the sample 1, 3 Department of P. G. Studiesin Psychology, University of Mysore, Mysore , br@psychology, uni-mysore.co.in. Department of Clinical Psychology, All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysore , psycon. india@yahoo.co.in. Correspondence: First author 93

2 Basavarajappa et al./ Normative Data on Seguin Form Board Test size and age range of tested children to discover that the Mysore kids were much faster on the form board. Verma, Pershad and Randhawa (1979) presented a preliminary report of different speeds in performance between upper and lower class sample of school children between 4-8 years from Chandigarh. The norms on SFB by children from Delhi schools given by Goel and Bhargava (1990) are almost identical to Mysore. A gender and grade level based norms was reported for boys and girls between LKG to class VII on a sample of 669 children between 3 ½ to 13 years from Government and non government schools in Patna, Bihar (Venkatesan, 1998). Nonetheless, norm development and test re-validation exercises remain a continual activity to prevent obsolescence and faulty comparisons of contemporary children against standards of preceding generation (Flynn, 1984; 1985). The procedure conventionally used for administration in this test involves giving three trials. Speed of performance is emphasized. In a recent and related study, a modified procedure of test administration for SFB was attempted on a sample of 720 children. Results indicated that an optimum of three trials is insufficient to determine the mental age equivalence of children on this test. The optimum speed of performance on SFB appears to occur around sixth trial. The study reiterated the value and use of calculation of a decrement score and quotient (Venkatesan, Basavarajappa & Divya, 2007). The present study is an attempt to revalidate SFB norms based on variables hitherto unexplored fully-such as, age, gender and area of residence (rural/urban) respectively. The aim of this study was to revalidate and develop fresh comparative norms on mental ages against shortest time taken for a modified procedure of test administration for completing the SFB in a studied sample of children in relation to their chronological age, gender and area of residence. Method The study was carried out on a sample of 720 children between chronological age range of months (Mean 89.19; SD 20.82). The sample included 361 boys (Mean Age: 89.13; SD: 20.73) and 359 girls (Mean Age: 89.24; SD: 20.94). Within the sample, there was equal number of children from rural and urban areas (N: 360). The educational status of the sample ranged from kindergarten to standard seven. A rural area, as operationally defined in this study, included geographical locations that were administratively governed by a panchayat and not by a municipal corporation. The socio economic status of the sample ranged between One (N= 238), Two (N= 307), Three (N=139) and Four (N= 36) respectively. A revised version of the NIMH Socio Economic Status (SES) Scale (NIMH, 1999) was employed in this study. This scale offers numerical points of different ranges for computation of a SES score/level for an individual by taking into account details like parental occupation and education, annual family income, combined properties as well as per capital income of the family. Higher points on the scale indicate better SES levels. The procedure for data collection involved use of cross sectional individualized testing procedure for each child included as sample in this study. The only alteration in procedure of test administration followed in this study was to allow each child as many repeat trials on SFB until s/he showed a plateau of identical readings of time taken for at least three consecutive trials. For example, if a child continued to improve his timings on the Board even after three trials, s/he was allowed to perform the next trial/s. The administration was continued till the child showed same timings for three successive trials, i.e., till plateau was observed. Results and Discussion The raw data generated from this study was in the form of time taken in seconds and the number of trials used by each child to reach a plateau of identical performance on the SFB for 94

3 Basavarajappa a et al./ Normative Data of Seguin Form Board Test three successive trials. The results of the study based on the performance of the children are analyzed and discussed in relation to the following variables: The trial wise results on SFB indicate a gradual decrease in mean time taken for the first six trials (Table 1) beginning trial one (Mean: 40.27; SD: 17.36) through trial two (Mean: 35.05; SD: 15.78) to trial three (Mean: 32.18; SD: 14.64) up to trial six (Mean: 29.57; SD: 13.71) (p: <0.001). This decreasing trend stops thereafter indicating that an optimum of the best performance has been reached. These findings reiterate the argument of an earlier investigation (Venkatesan, Basavarajappa and Divya, 2007) in favor of an optimum of six rather than three trials on the board as necessary before deciding on the shortest of Table-1. Distribution of Seguin Form Board norms based on age /trials 95 the trials for as basis for calculation of mental ages/intelligence quotients in children assessed on this test of intelligence. These findings are similar to observations made by Wallin (1916) that the speed of performance on form board improves with increasing chronological and mental ages of children. It is also seen that the decrements in time taken by children for performance on the board is smooth and continuous from age levels months and months respectively. Thereafter, the timing of performance goes up for the children between months; thereby supporting the view that the SFB is more suitable indicator of mental ages for younger rather than older age groups of children. Trials/ Age I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X months. Means (N=10) SD months. Means (N=66) SD months. Means (N=116) SD months. Means (N=117) SD months. Means (N=116) SD months. Means (N=128) SD months.Means (N=167) SD Total Means (N=720) SD F value Probability <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.292 df 5,714 5,714 5,714 5,714 5,714 5,714 5,592 5,307 5,88 5,7 Socio Economic Status The analysis of performance by the children on the SFB reveals that, irrespective of Socio Economic Status, there is decrease in the time taken by the subjects till about the sixth trial following a plateau thereafter.the data indicates that children from higher SES perform on an average faster or take lesser time to perform on the SFB across any number of trials than children of the same age group in the lower SES levels (p: < 0.001). These findings are similar to reports by David and Virginia (1972) on small differences in speed of SFB performance based on SES.

4 Basavarajappa et al./ Normative Data on Seguin Form Board Test Table- 2. Distribution of Seguin Form Board norms based on SES Trials/ I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X SES SES I(N=238) Means SD SES II(N=307) Means SD SES III(N=139) Means SD SES IV(N=36) Means SD Total(N=720) Means SD F-value Probability <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.080 <0.846 df 3,72 3,72 3,72 3,72 3,72 3,72 3,59 3,31 3,90 3,9 Table- 3. Distribution of SFB Norms based on Area of Residence (Urban and Rural) Trials/ Urban/Rural l II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X Urban (N=360) Means SD Rural Means (N=360) SD t-value Probability <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.008 <0.864 df 7,18 7,18 7,18 7,18 7,18 7,18 5,96 3,11 9,2 1,1 Table 4. Distribution of SFB Norms based on Gender (Boys and Girls) TrialsBoys/Girls I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X Boys (N=361) Means SD Girls (N=359) Means SD t-value Probability <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.003 <0.002 <0.004 <0.012 <0.018 <0.213 <0.086 df 7,18 7,18 7,18 7,18 7,18 7,18 5,96 3,11 9,2 1,1 Area of Residence The results indicate that area of residence (either rural or urban) is also an influential factor in the speed of performance of children on SFB across all trials as well as age levels respectively. The rural children are on an average definitely slower than their urban counterparts for the same age (p: < 0.001). 96 Gender An analysis of performance on the SFB based on gender variable indicates that girls show faster and better performance than boys of same age levels in all the trials (p < 0.001). Similar observations were reported by David and Virginia (1972). Girls took on an average four seconds

5 Basavarajappa a et al./ Normative Data of Seguin Form Board Test less to complete the board and the obtained t- values are significant up to sixth trial. In sum, SFB continues to remain a valid and reliable speed test of intelligence at lower age levels. Other things being equal, there are inter trial decrements in the rates or speed of performance by children across gender (boys/ girls), SES levels and area of residence (rural/ urban) thereby substantiating the development and use of separate norm comparisons on SFB before making a final impression or decision on the intellectual status of a given child.. References Bharatraj, J. (1971). AIISH Norms on Seguin Form Board with Indian children. The Journal of All India Institute of Speech and Hearing. 2, David, R..L., & Virginia, C. S. (1972). Seguin Form Board; Technical Report 20. Disadvantaged Children and their first School Experiences.EST- Head Start longitudinal study. Technical Report Series ED DuBois, P. H. (1970). A history of psychological testing.. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Flynn, J. R. (1984). The mean IQ of Americans: Massive gains 1932 to Psychological Bulletin, 95, Flynn, J. R. (1985). Wechsler Intelligence Tests: Do we really have a criterion of mental retardation? American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 90, Goel, S. K., & Bhargava, M. (1990). Hand Book for Seguin Form Board. Agra: National Psychological Corporation. Itard, J. M. G. (1932). The Wild Boy of Aveyron. New York, The Century Co. NIMH. (1999). The NIMH Socio Economic Status Scale for case history taking. Secunderabad: National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped. Ramachandran, K. V., Deshpande, V. A., Apte, S. V., Shukla, M. N., & Shah, M. R. (1968). A Survey of school children in Mumbai city with special reference to their physical efficiency, mental and nutritional status. Mumbai: Asia Publishing House. Seguin, E. (1856). Origin of the treatment and training of Idiots. American Journal of Education, 2, Seguin, E. (1866). Idiocy and its treatment by the physiological method. New York: William Wood. Spearman, C. E. (1927). The abilities of man: Their nature and measurement. New York: Macmillan. Venkatesan, S. (1998). Revalidation of Seguin Form Board Test for Indian Children. Indian Journal of Applied Psychology. 35, 1 & Venkatesan, S., Basavarajappa, & Divya, M. (2007). Seguin Form Board Test: Field try-out on a modified procedure of test administration. Indian Journal of Applied Psychology. 44, 1-5. Verma, S. K., Pershad, D., & Randhawa, A. (1979). The preliminary report on a performance test of intelligence on 4-8 years old children. Indian Journal of Clinical Psychology. 6, Wallin, A. J. E. (1916). Age norms of psychomotor capacity. Journal of Educational Psychology, 7,