Aging Out of an Outcome Measure

[Elizabeth Derbak]

Is there a general rule regarding NOT using an outcome measure if a child will soon be aging out of the age-range? For instance, if a child is 5 yrs 7 months old, he is technically within the age range for the Peabody. However, you would not be able to use the Peabody for re-evaluation in 6 months, so maybe the correct choice would be a different outcome measure. This specific example makes sense to me. However, do you have any advice on generalizing this concept?

[Jessica Lewis]

The Peabody is a norm referenced assessment so we need to be careful using the Peabody for multiple assessments overtime because that’s not what it is designed to do…

Back to your question though, yes there are concerns about a ceiling affect for a child that is about to age out of a norm referenced test.
By initial observation of a child, if you feel like their motor skills are delayed, the assessment would still provide meaningful information during the evaluation. If you think they will be borderline average with their skills, you might consider using a different assessment. So ultimately, it would be a judgement call for the physical therapist. For the exam, I don’t think they will create a lot of gray area for these concepts if they want you to choose an exam.

[Elizabeth Derbak]

This is very helpful, thank you! A good reminder to differentiate between norm-referenced and criterion-referenced.

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