Professor: Jerome Short, Ph.D. Office: David King Hall 2019
Phone: 703-993-1368 Office Hours: 12:00 - 2:00 Tuesdays
E-Mail: jshort@gmu.edu Webpage: http://mason.gmu.edu/~jshort
Teaching Assistants: Diane Lameira dlameira@gmu.edu
Caitlin Williams cwilli50@gmu.edu
Lab: Mondays 10:30 - 12:00, Center for Psychological Services
This is the first semester of a two-semester sequence on psychological assessment. The goal of the course is to give students a foundation in theories, strategies, and techniques in psychological assessment, focusing on empirical support and clinical utility. Students will gain the skills to: (1) conduct a semi-structured background interview; (2) choose and administer appropriate assessment techniques for clients’ concerns and difficulties; (3) provide accurate interpretation of assessment results; (4) and provide recommendations tailored to the needs of clients.
Course Requirements:
Interviews/Assessments:
Written Assignments/Reports:
Grading. I will base your final grade on your percentage as defined below.
A+ = 97% or more A = 93 – 96% A- = 90 - 92% B+ = 87 - 89% B = 83 - 86%
C = 75 - 85% F = below 75%
Grade for Lecture: (75% of total grade)
3 Reports and completion of 3 interviews in a professional manner
Class Participation
Grade for Lab: (25% of total grade)
Timely and thorough completion of all test protocols and recordings
Lab test administration proficiency tests
Protocol scoring accuracy and effort
Learning from corrections and feedback
Lab Instructors will provide feedback on your interviewing, administration, scoring, report writing, and general professional interaction skills. You will turn in your protocols and videorecorded interviews to your Lab Instructors for review and feedback. They will grade your work and you will re-submit unsatisfactory work until it is satisfactory. You will make copies of lab materials at your own expense.
Prior to administering any testing instrument to a volunteer, you will: practice administering the instrument in lab; thoroughly read the manual and essentials book; and practice administering the instrument with a classmate; and pass WAIS and WISC proficiency exams administered by your lab instructors. A “passing” grade on the proficiency exams is 90% or above.
Volunteers: You will recruit 2 adult volunteers through the GMU research participant pool and 1 child volunteer from the community. At all times, you must behave with the volunteers in the same manner that you would with actual clients. Thus, you cannot assess volunteers with whom you have any type of outside relationship (i.e., a student in one of your labs; a co-worker; or a relative). You are to conduct yourself in a professional manner at all times (e.g., arrive on time to appointments; contact volunteer if appointment must be changed or cancelled; and dress and conduct yourself professionally).
Official Communications via GMU E-mail: Mason uses electronic mail to provide official information to students. Examples include communications from course instructors, notices from the library, notices about academic standing, financial aid information, class materials, assignments, questions, and instructor feedback. Students are responsible for the content of university communication sent to their mason e-mail account, and are required to activate that account and
check it regularly. I will notify you of any class cancellations and make-up classes via email and follow university policies for make-up classes.
Honor Code: Student members of the George Mason University community pledge not to cheat, plagiarize, steal, or lie in matters related to academic work. Information about Honor Code policies is available at http://oai.gmu.edu/ All students must follow the American Psychological Association 2002 Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct.
Technology. You can access course materials on Blackboard.
*Last day to add course: September 6
*Last day to drop: September 6 (no penalty); Sept. 20 (33% penalty); Sept. 30 (67% penalty)
Recommended Books
Flanagan, D. P. & Alonso, V. C. (2017). Essentials of WISC-V Assessment New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Lichtenberger, E. O. & Kaufman, A. S. (2012). Essentials of WAIS-IV Assessment. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Lecture & Lab Schedule:
Aug. 27 Clinical Interviewing
Sharp, K. L., Williams, A. J., Rhyner, K. T., & Ilardi, S. S. (2013). The clinical interview. In Geisinger, Kurt F. (Ed); Bracken, Bruce A. (Ed); Carlson, Janet F. (Ed); Hansen, Jo-Ida C. (Ed); Kuncel, Nathan R. (Ed); Reise, Steven P. (Ed); Rodriguez, Michael C. (Ed), (2013). APA handbook of testing and assessment in psychology, Vol. 2: Testing and assessment in clinical and counseling psychology. (pp. 103-117). Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association.
Aug. 27 Lab Clinical Interviewing Practice
Sept. 3 Labor Day Holiday – no class or lab
Sept. 10 Suicide and Violence Risk Assessment
Doyle, M., & Dolan, M. (2007). Standardized risk assessment. Psychiatry, 6(20), 409-414.
Cramer, R.J., Johnson, S.M., McLaughlin, J., Rausch, E.M., & Conroy, M.A. (2013). Suicide risk assessment training for psychology doctoral programs: Core competencies and a framework for training. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 7(1), 1-11.
Fowler, J.C. (2012). Suicide risk assessment in clinical practice: Pragmatic guidelines for imperfect assessments. Psychotherapy, 49(1), 81-90.
Sept. 10 Lab Suicide and Violence Risk Assessment Practice
Sept. 17 WAIS-IV Administration
Nisbett, R. E.; Aronson, J., Blair, C., Dickens, W., Flynn, J., Halpern, D. F., & Turkheimer, E. (2012). Intelligence: New findings and theoretical developments. American Psychologist, 67(2), 130-159.
Lichtenberger, E. O. & Kaufman, A. S. (2012). Essentials of WAIS-IV Assessment. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Chapters 1 & 2. Introduction and How to Administer WAIS-IV.
Sept. 17 Lab WAIS-IV Administration Practice
Sept. 24 WAIS-IV Psychometrics, Scoring, and Interpretation
Lichtenberger, E. O. & Kaufman, A. S. (2012). Essentials of WAIS-IV Assessment. New York: John
Wiley & Sons. Chapters 3 to 5. Scoring and Interpreting the WAIS-IV.
Sept. 24 Lab WAIS-IV Scoring Practice
Oct. 1 WAIS-IV Report Writing
Lichtenberger, E. O. & Kaufman, A. S. (2012). Essentials of WAIS-IV Assessment. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Chapters 9 and 10. Strengths and Illustrative case reports.
Oct. 1 Lab WAIS-IV Interpretation and Report Writing Practice
Oct. 8 No Class or Lab Columbus Day Holiday
Oct. 9 WAIS-IV Proficiency Exams. Bring supplies you need for a real administration.
Oct. 9 Lab WAIS-IV Proficiency Exams.
Oct. 15 WISC-V Administration, Psychometrics, and Scoring
Flanagan, D. P. & Alfonso, V. C. (2017). Essentials of WISC-V Assessment. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Chapters 1, 2, & 3. Overview, How to Administer, and How to Score WISC-V.
Oct. 15 Lab WISC-V Administration and Scoring Practice
Oct. 22 WISC-V Interpretation and Report Writing
Flanagan, D. P. & Alfonso, V. C. (2017). Essentials of WISC-V Assessment. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Chapter 4. How to Interpret WISC-V.
*First WAIS-IV Report Due to TAs*
Oct. 22 Lab WISC-V Interpretation and Report Writing Practice
Oct. 29 WISC-V Proficiency Exams *First WAIS-IV Report Due to Professor*
Oct. 29 Lab WISC-V Proficiency Exams *
Nov. 5 Intelligence and Memory Across the Lifespan
Lichtenberger, E. O. & Kaufman, A. S. (2012). Essentials of WAIS-IV Assessment. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Essentials of WAIS-IV. Chapter 7. Age and Intelligence Across the Lifespan.
Lopez, O. L. (2013). Mild Cognitive Impairment. CONTINUUM: Lifelong Learning in Neurology, 19(2, Dementia), 411–424.
Nov. 5 Lab Memory Scales Administration Practice *Second WAIS-IV Report Due to TAs*
Nov. 12 Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Assessment
Weyandt, L.L., & DuPaul, G. J. (2013). College Students with ADHD: Current Issues and Future Directions (Chapter 4: Assessment of ADHD, pp. 37-60). New York: Springer.
Nov. 12 Lab ADHD Assessment Practice *Second WAIS Report Due to Professor*
Nov. 19 Cultural Diversity and Providing Client Feedback
American Psychological Association (2017). Multicultural Guidelines: An Ecological Approach to Context, Identity, and Intersectionality. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/about/policy/multicultural-guidelines.pdf .
Pope, K. S. (1992). Responsibilities in providing psychological test feedback to clients. Psychological Assessment, 4(3), 268-271.
Nov. 19 Lab Practice Providing Client Feedback
Nov. 26 Continue focus on cultural diversity and client feedback
Nov. 26 Lab Continue focus on cultural diversity and client feedback
Dec. 3 Professional Conduct and Ethical Decision Making in Assessments
American Psychological Association (2002). Ethical principals of psychologists and code of conduct. American Psychologist, 57, 1060-1073.
Dec. 3 Lab Practice Ethical Decision Making *WISC-V Report Due to TAs*
Dec. 10 *WISC-V Report Due to Professor*