Guidelines for assessment of and intervention with persons with disabilities.

Abstract

Although many persons who have disabilities have experienced discrimination, each individual reacts differently to those experiences. Moreover, each person assigns a unique meaning to disability, depending on the nature of impairment, the quality of social support, and life demands (Olkin, 1999b;Olkin & Taliaferro, 2005;Vash & Crewe, 2004). Above and beyond their disability experiences, persons with disabilities have their own life experiences and, like everyone else, their own personal characteristics, histories, and life contexts.To work effectively with people who have disabilities, psychologists need to become familiar with how disability influences a client's psychological well-being and functioning. Psychologists should also become aware of how their own attitudes, reactions, conceptions of disability, and possible biases may affect their professional relationships with clients who have disabilities. Further, it is important for psychologists to learn the best "barrierfree" psychological practices for clients with disabilities, including provision of reasonable accommodations and appropriate integration of disability-related issues into assessment and intervention.Unfortunately, while psychologists receive extensive training in treating mental health disorders, they rarely receive adequate education or training in disability issues

Development and Evaluation of the Individuals With Learning Disabilities and/or Difficulties Perceived Discrimination Scale

“…Within psychological disciplines, the experiences of individuals with disabilities are often misunderstood and underrepresented (American Psychological Association, 2012; Keller & Galgay, 2010; Prilleltensky & Prilleltensky, 2003). In fact, it is only recently that conceptualizations of disability have begun to move away from a medical model (i.e., equating disability with a personal defect that must be fixed) and toward an identity model (i.e., cultural and/or minority identity embedded in systems of oppression) that encompasses a wide range of differences that fall outside sociocultural norms of what is deemed to be “able” (Siebers, 2008).…”

Test accommodations for individuals with neurological conditions completing the NIH Toolbox—Cognition Battery: An evaluation of frequency and appropriateness.

“…Although we considered the possibility that nonadherence reflects inadequate training or supervision of examiners, we dedicated far more attention to this issue than is typical. Instead, we believe that nonadherence reflects the limited experience that most test administrators have in ensuring that all participants had an “unobstructed opportunity to demonstrate their standing on the construct being measured.” Adherence to APA Guidelines for Assessment of and Intervention with Persons with Disabilities (APA, 2012) requires content knowledge, experience, and judgement to inform decisions, which some research assistants and test administrators lack. Most test instructions do not include procedures for reasonable accommodations.…”

“…While some accommodations may breach standardization, “for many kinds of tests, an accommodated measure would yield more valid results than the same measure without such accommodations” (APA, 2012, p. 53). When tests and administration protocols are modified, new normative information must be collected.…”

“…Policies and practices that govern testing accommodations are inconsistent and offer limited guidance to test administrators (Lai & Berkeley, 2012; Mislevy et al, 2013). Furthermore, decisions about accommodations often need to be made “in the moment” based on the unique needs of an individual, and test administrators may have limited training and understanding of disability (American Psychological Association [APA], 2012). …”

Characteristics of Agencies Providing Support Services for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders in Vietnam

“…First, clinicians need to have an adequate level of education and degree which may be, for instance, a Master’s degree in an appropriate major (e.g., psychology; special education) [38]. They should pass an examination for licensing, and be required to attend continuing education to update skills and knowledge [39]. In 2017, the New York State of Department of Health (United States) published a clinical practice guideline to ensure that “early intervention programs provide consistent, high-quality, cost-effective, and appropriate services that result in measurable outcomes for eligible children and their families” [40].…”