Project Dynamic Testing and the Relation with School performance and language problems

Researchers: Kirsten Touw MSc and Prof. dr. Wilma Resing

The Dynamic Testing Lab is conducting a study into the effectiveness of Dynamic Testing and the relation with school and language performance of children. Several researchers emphasise the importance of dynamic testing for children with learning and/or language problems. Children with receptive and/or expressive language problems often experience difficulties with planning (serial) tasks. Using a dynamic test for said group can provide more insight into learning processes and the ability to learn, and will help teachers in achieving that these children benefit optimally from supervision in class.

Primary school children from the third and/or fourth grade participate in this study. They solve serial reasoning tasks (seriation) during several sessions: a pretest, two training sessions, and a posttest. During the dynamic training, structured step by step help is offered according to the ‘graduated prompts’ procedure. This means that children will be offered assistance step by step, tailored to an individual’s specific needs. This method provides an indication of the type of instruction children benefit from most. In addition, teachers are asked to evaluate the children’s functioning at school and their learning potential through a questionnaire. Furthermore, data will be collected on the actual school performance of the children by means of their scores on standardised tests (Cito leerlingvolgsysteem).

This study aims to provide more insight into the effectiveness of dynamic testing by means of the ‘graduated prompts’ method and the effect of this training method on children with learning and/or language problems. The study also aims to improve needs-based diagnostics as well as its application to education, in the form of data for suitable education and treatment plans.