The chapter on communicating assessment results helped
me prepare for my meeting with the student that I assessed and his
parents. In the “feedback sessions” section
of the chapter, it included examples of how you can word particular
results. My fear of communicating
results is providing the information incorrectly due to my lack of background
in statistics. However, these examples provided me with a way
to communicate results in a clear and understanding manner. I also liked how Drummond and Jones (2010) provided
a checklist of what needs to be done in an interpretation session. It is an organized in a way that allows you
to ensure that you are adequately prepared prior to the meeting with the
client.
As I was reading over the problem areas I found two
points that I felt are very important when communicating results. The first one is establishing rapport because
when providing test results to a child, parent, and/or young adult it is not
always easy. With that being said, it is
vital that you provide a comfortable environment and trust is established
between you and the client. You may be communicating
positive results; however, there are times when the results are not what they
want to hear so you want to communicate it as positive as you can. Another important factor is when
communicating these results you need to make sure that you are doing so in a
manner that the client can understand the language you are using. I remember that I was in a data meeting and
my principal and literacy coach was reviewing testing scores with me. It happened to be my first year and coming
from the high school I was never exposed to data presented in the way they were
showing me. I tried really hard to
understand what they were saying but I ended up beginning to tune them
out. I later returned to my coach and
asked for support because I needed her to break down the results again and explain
it in a way that I could understand in order to help my students improve in
their education.
The final points that I related to when reading the
chapter was the motivation and attitude section and the frequently asked
questions presented. Drummond and Jones
stated, “Test results are more significant to clients who are motivated to take
a test, come in and discuss the results, and have a positive attitude toward
the value of the data” (p. 348). With
that being said, it reminded me of my testing session with my client. Prior to me testing him you could tell he was
interested in being tested to learn about his intelligence levels. Om the day he was assessed, he came in
immediately with a positive attitude. Then
throughout the testing session you could tell that he worked hard. As I was observing him you could tell that he
was not guessing on the answers. He
would take a moment to think, choose the best answer, and put his full effort
into this session. I was pleased with
the overall experience of the, test and look forward to meeting with his
parents to discuss the results. Finally,
with the most frequently asked questions, I feel as though it is important to
be knowledgeable of what parents may ask so that you are prepared to provide an
appropriate and accurate answer. As
future counselors, I know that we may not experience testing in this manner but
it is important to be knowledgeable of what is expected if you ever have to sit
through an interpretation session and/or communicate test results to
parents.
Drummond, R. J. and Jones, K. (2010). Assessment procedures for counselors and
helping professionals. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education,
Inc.
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