Date of Award
8-24-2024
Document Type
Doctoral Research Paper
Degree Name
Psy.D.
Organizational Unit
Graduate School of Professional Psychology
First Advisor
Kathryn Barrs
Second Advisor
John Holmberg
Third Advisor
Lauren M. McGrath
Keywords
Neuropsychology, Pediatric, Performance validity testing, Reading disability
Abstract
Neuropsychological evaluation is a valuable tool for characterizing individual neurocognitive profiles in a range of congenital and acquired brain conditions. The usefulness of neuropsychological testing relies on accurate data which can only be obtained from reliable and credible performance. Inaccurate test data can lead to an underestimate of a child’s true abilities, false diagnoses, and a misallocation of community resources and services. Performance validity tests (PVTs) are stand-alone or embedded measures that assist psychologists in determining if an individual’s performance is valid. Despite a growing understanding in the importance of consistently using PVTs in pediatric neuropsychological evaluation over the last 15 years, research and clinical use continues to lag behind relative to adult neuropsychological practice. In particular, there is a dearth of evidence investigating the use of PVTs among children and adolescents with reading difficulties and with specific learning disorder in reading/dyslexia. It is important to empirically validate the use of PVTs in this population to avoid false determinations of noncredible performance. It may be that children and adolescents with reading difficulties perform worse on tests that require them to draw on related cognitive vulnerabilities. Thus, this study aims to analyze and report failure rates of the Memory Validity Profile (MVP), the automatized sequences task, an embedded digit span measure, and the Hillside Rating Scale. This study also aims to compare these measures to one another and determine if reading difficulties or other variables are correlated with PVT failure. We hope that this study will contribute to the paucity of literature on the topic and help clinicians feel more confident selecting PVTs for clinical use with children and adolescents with reading difficulties.
Copyright Date
7-1-2024
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
All Rights Reserved.
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
Rights Holder
Morgan Jolliffe
Provenance
Received from author
File Format
application/pdf
Language
English (eng)
Extent
42 pgs
File Size
321 KB
Recommended Citation
Jolliffe, Morgan, "Pediatric Performance Validity Testing: Examining the Performance of Children with Reading Difficulties on Stand-Alone and Embedded Measures in a Neuropsychological Research Sample" (2024). Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects. 523.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/capstone_masters/523