Diagnosis of the child: types and methods. Tests for children

In the conditions of the life of modern society, great importance attaches to the psychological and pedagogical diagnosis of the development of children.

Concept and role

In order to find an individual approach to the child, to know its strengths and weaknesses, it is most effective to educate and educate both at home and in educational institutions, to provide psychological assistance in time, the diagnosis of the child is necessary. This involves a comprehensive study of psychological characteristics, assessment of the individual, a forecast for further development.

Types of research

There are many kinds of diagnostics. For convenience of use, they are classified according to various criteria.

The most functional classification is the selection of species depending on the subject of study:

• Diagnosis of personality - the definition of temperament, type of self-esteem.
• Diagnosis of the emotional sphere. The study of the ability to control oneself, experience, attitude to moral norms.
• Diagnosis of the cognitive sphere is the diagnosis of the development of children intellectually, the study of mental abilities, the study of lateral preferences (the definition of the leading hand, the leading eye, etc.).
• Diagnosis of behavior.

But even this division is very conditional, since often there is a complex diagnosis of the child, when there is a comprehensive survey and evaluation of the developmental features of all or several spheres.

For practice, it is also interesting to classify by types of nervous activity (diagnosis of attention, thinking, memory, speech, learning skills). It is conducted depending on the age (diagnosis of preschool children, diagnosis of children of primary school age).

Methodology

Methods of diagnosing children are very diverse and each of them depends on the type of study. At the present time, group methods are already losing their importance, giving way to individual testing. But in order for the diagnosis of the child to succeed, it is important to choose the right tool that will be used in the future. In practice, psychologists often use the following set of tools:

• Observation is the study of the child's mental properties under ordinary conditions. This observation of behavior, game, interaction with others.
• Conversation - gives an idea of the child as a result of establishing contact and direct communication.
• The method of studying the results of children's activities - the analysis of drawings, hand-made articles.
• The method of experiment - involves studying the actions of the subject in specially created, modeled conditions.
• Tests for children - the most common method, is widely used today by psychologists.

Test method

The test method can be called a complex, complex method of diagnosis, since during the testing a wide range of tools for studying and monitoring the behavior of the test subject, analyzing the results of his activity and experimental conditions are used. Therefore, tests for children come in different forms - questionnaire tests, task tests, test-actions.

Tests-questionnaires are often used in the diagnosis of personality, the questionnaire works well when determining the type of temperament. Tests-tasks are usually aimed at studying the emotional and intellectual sphere and are especially relevant when it is necessary to diagnose a child's readiness for school. Tests-actions are used in the study of behavior.

Diagnosis of personality

Diagnosis of the child on the subject of constitutional personality traits: temperament, balance, mobility of nervous processes, etc. is important, as it answers many questions in the child's behavior. The features of the four main types of temperament are most clearly manifested in childhood, and with the correct application of the diagnostic program children are easily amenable to pedagogical correction.

Of course, in determining the type of temperament of the child, the questionnaire is also offered to his parents. For older children, self-tests with questions are also acceptable. The analysis of the answers obtained as a result of testing allows us to name the child choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic or melancholy.

Test "Transfer of cubes"

In the process of research, a different number of cubes are placed on a small-sized blade, and the child is instructed to bring the cubes about a distance of three meters and return with them back. Then put this burden on the table so that not one cube falls. The blade must be held in one hand.

The results of the test assess the balance (what kind of behavior the child demonstrates in case of failure, expresses dissatisfaction), the ability to work (how long the child achieves success in performing the task), the mobility of the nervous processes (how quickly the child understands and accepts the task, adapts to work, is distracted ).

The program for determining the type of self-assessment: the "Lesenka"

To learn how a child evaluates himself, allows a very common test, during which the child is given a picture with a picture of a ladder of seven steps, where the average step is greater than the rest. The child is explained that on the top three steps there are good children, and the best children are at the top, on the seventh step. Bad children are located on the three lower, at the lowest - the worst. On the middle step are children, which can not be attributed to either bad or good. The test person should mark his place on this ladder and explain why he placed himself exactly there. When a child chooses a step, he is asked to tell if he really is or wants to be like that? If he considers himself to be so, let him mark the step he would like to stand on. Let him choose where his mother would place it.

The test allows you to find out how the child evaluates his personal qualities, as well as his opinion about what it seems to others (mom).

At the end of the test, the psychologist draws the following conclusions:

• Self-assessment is inadequately overstated - the child instantly positions himself at the top as an indisputable fact, without explaining the reasons, without thinking.
• Self-esteem is overestimated - reflects and chooses the very top, arguing about some shortcomings, but explaining it is not dependent on him factors.
• Self-esteem is adequate - after reflection, he notes himself on the second or third step, explaining his choice.
• Self-esteem is understated - puts himself on one of the lower steps without argumentation.

Diagnosis of the emotional sphere

Diagnosis of the child is impossible without examination of the emotional-volitional sphere. In pre-school children, it is predominant in front of the intellectual sphere. The world is cognized more with the help of the senses than the mind.

It is very important and informative for parents (educators) to diagnose children 6 years old. Since at this age there are such feelings as anxiety, fears, restraint, for the six-year-olds the situation in which the examination is being conducted is of great importance, the personality of the testing person.

The "Cactus" test

Ask the child to draw a cactus on a piece of paper. Do not help or prompt. For any questions it is advisable to answer evasively: "Think a little, you will succeed." Do not give your vision or express your ideas.

The picture will tell you about the emotional characteristics of the child. Study the result in detail:

• The size and position of the painted flower in space indicates how the child defines himself in the surrounding world. A large-sized flower in the center of the leaf indicates self-centeredness and leadership qualities. A small cactus, painted below, speaks of the artist's insecure, dependent personality.
• Jerky lines, strong pressure on the pencil give an impulsive child.
• A spiny cactus personifies aggression. The more needles, the longer they protrude from the flower, the higher the degree of aggressiveness of the child.
• A cactus, planted in a flower pot, will draw "home" children seeking family protection.
• Cactus, growing in the desert, indicates a sense of loneliness.

Diagnosis of the intellect

Tests-tasks are mainly used in the study of the intellectual sphere. In this aspect, survey subjects are attention, memory, analytical thinking, fine motor skills, learning activity skills.

Test "Inclusion in a row"

Disassemble in the presence of the child a six-seater doll and put six twins, different in size, in a row in size. Then remove one of them and align the distance between the remaining ones. Invite the child to find her place in the row. If the task is successfully completed, complicate the test: remove two matryoshka series.

The test is aimed at assessing the level of the cognitive-orienting sphere, orientation on the magnitude.

Test "Classification of pictures"

You have two groups of pictures in your hands. Eight represent dishes, eight - clothes. Show the child a card with a picture of a spoon and put it on the table. Now - a card with a picture of a jacket, put it on the table some distance from the spoon. The spoon and the jacket are arranged in such a way that one can continue the series from one and the other picture.

After that, in different order, show the child a picture of the objects of utensils or clothes with the request to put the next card in the right number. Do not correct if the clothes are not in the right group. At the end of the test, ask the subject to explain why he arranged the cards.

The purpose of this test is to identify the skill to conduct a generalization on an essential basis, exploring visual-figurative thinking.

Test "Season Search"

The child is presented with four pictures depicting the seasons, and they suggest showing where the spring is, where the winter, etc., and explain what signs he guessed.

The test reveals the formation of ideas about the seasons.

Test "Find Differences"

Before the tested, two plot pictures are placed, similar at first glance, but on close examination they have a number of differences.

The child is looking for and calling the differences. The test examines the attention and the ability to compare.

The test "What was at first, and then what?"

The psychologist shows four plot pictures. On one boy digs a pit, on the second - seeds seeds, on the third - sprouts sprouts, on the fourth - admires flowers. The child is offered to place pictures in order. The test reveals the ability to determine the sequence of events.

Readiness for school

Learning of mental abilities becomes especially relevant when it is required to diagnose a child's readiness for school.

Willingness to learn at school presupposes the presence of certain skills and the necessary level of development of thinking, memory and attention.

Test "Exclusion from the series or who is superfluous?"

Presenting a series of four subjects (images of objects), the child is asked to find an extra and explain why. When from a series that includes a truck, a car, an airplane and a cart, the tested one excludes the plane, ask him to argue the answer, ask how one word can describe all the objects to which type of transport the superfluous belongs, and to what remaining.

The test reveals the ability to group objects according to the main feature, the level of formation of ideas about the world around them.

Test "Find exactly the same"

The picture shows seven almost identical umbrellas, and two of them are absolutely identical. The difference between the rest is immaterial - different specks on the fabric of the umbrella. The child must independently and quickly find two identical umbrellas. The test tests the level of development of attention.

Test "Remember all the subjects"

The child is offered 9 pictures for study. He must remember them for 15-20 seconds. Then, turning away, he must name at least seven or eight objects. The test shows the level of memory development.