An old reliable gets a norms update

If you have spent any part of your career doing psychoeducaitonal assessments you have probably spent at least some of that time administering, scoring, and interpreting the Beery-Buktenica Development Test of Visual-Motor Integration (Beery VMI).

Despite being quite popular, the test provided significant limitations when used in multi-age environments due to its 18 year old upper limit normative data. Fortunately the test authors have now released an updated normative sample that brings the test up to 100 years of age. That should certainly handle your psychoeducational needs.

I have not yet seen this update (it is in the mail!) so I can not comment on the effectiveness of the norms or if there are test ceiling limitations, but it would certainly seem to fill the VMI gap for those clients that may be unable to complete other integration measures due to additional factors (e.g. executive loads on a Rey complex figure).

The Beery VMI update is available in Canada through Pearson (formally PsychCorp). Pricing was not available to me at the time of writing, but you can certainly purchase either a manual or an updated kit by calling the publisher directly.

RTI Webinars

Council for Exceptional Children's RTI Blog has posted a series of upcoming interactive webinars that will take the viewer from an introduction to actual intervention use. There is a fee (but it's marginal; especially for CEC members). Might be worth taking a look.

Introduction to RTI
Presenter: Cara Shores
Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009
4:00 – 5:45 p.m. EST

Implementation of RTI at the School Level
Presenter: Cara Shores
Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009
4:00 – 5:45 p.m. EST

Considerations When Using RTI in Diverse Schools
Presenter: Janette Klingner
Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009
4:00 – 5:45 p.m. EST

Requirements: speakerphone, a computer, and a high-speed internet connection

Good news for Apple/Mac clients

Recommendations for assistive technology (AT) are usually a significant element of any diagnosable psychoeducational assessment. Until recently these have been used primarily on site at schools, but increased bursary options have allowed many students to now take these tools home and use them on their own system.

Historically these have been, for the most part, Windows based programs. While in the past this usually was not an issue, the number of Apple/Mac clients I have seen of late is quite significant. Fortunately, the AT companies have been ahead of the curve and the vast majority of these tools are available for Mac as well.

Here is what is currently available on Mac:

Kurzweil

MacSpeech Dictate is Nuance's MAC version of Dragon Naturally Speaking

Inspiration is available on MAC and as a WEB application. Kidspiration is also available for MAC.

WordQ

And don't forget that Mac has alternatives to Word, Excel, and Powerpoint in their iWork package.

Blog temporarily on hold

Hello everyone. Due to demands at work at the moment this blog is temporarily going to be put on hold. I will be relaunching in the spring most likely. In the meantime I recommend you take a peak at some of the linked blogs provided on this site. Each provide valuable resources.