Hurdle assessment. This assessment enables students to demonstrate minimum competency in psychology skills integral to the WAIS-IV, administration and response recording. This live skills assessment will enable students to demonstrate ‘fitness to practice’ as a psychologist in terms of conducting core skills necessary to complete psychological assessments. This is an essential skill that all students need to demonstrate prior to their first placement. Consistent with the Assessment Policy, students who make a serious attempt, but fail to meet minimum standards will be given a second opportunity to complete the task to the minimum standard. The minimum standards will be defined as at least Functional level in a rubric that will be made available to students and that will be based on standards required by APAC. Students who fail to meet minimum standards on the second attempt will fail the unit. For those who pass the second attempt, a maximum mark of 50% (PASS) will be given for the PSYP902 Psychological Assessment and Reports, WAIS-IV live skills assessment 1.

Live demonstration of WAIS administration and response recording.

Three students are allocated to each assessment session. The assessment session is 3 hours in duration, allowing 60 minutes per person. You can choose the date and the morning or afternoon session by advising the Administrator at: psychology.health@mq.edu.au . Person A interviews B. Person B interviews C. Person C interviews A. You decide between yourselves who is A and B and C. You won’t be doing the full WAIS in one run. The rotations will occur around each sub-test. Interviewees: Your IQ is not being tested. You are simply being a “person” for the Assessor to work with. The supervisor will give you directions on how to respond to questions (e.g., when to give the wrong answer). Interviewers: You will administer the sub-tests according to the directions of the supervisor and write down responses and scores as you go. The standard required for a Pass is satisfactory completion of the Administrative Checklist, which is available on iLearn. If you don’t meet this standard for any one sub-test you might be required to return to repeat the administration. You need to bring your WAIS kits with you as well as your copy of the WAIS IV Administration Checklist.

Case Study 2500 words

Instructions This assignment is designed to give you practice with the Assessment and Measurement Case Studies which you will be required to submit to the Psychology Board and your supervisor during your 6th year. Be sure to follow the guidelines detailed in Appendix D when you do this assignment. Note, however, that the section of Appendix D outlining specific requirements for intervention strategies does not apply to the current assignment. Please refer only to the specific requirements for case studies meeting Core competency 3: Psychological assessment and Measurement. You have been given the raw scores obtained from the WAIS-IV assessment which you have done with the client. You will be required to go to the WAIS-IV Manual to convert the raw scores and to then fill in the first two pages of the WAIS-IV Record Form up to but not including the section titled ‘Process Analysis’ on the second page. These two pages are required to be submitted with your assignment. These two pages are not part of the 2500 word count.

Case Study Background Information You have seen David for three sessions following referral from his GP. The client is 20 years of age. His GP is concerned that he has not been able to make sporadic progress with university studies since completing the HSC and has asked you to conduct an assessment of his intellectual and emotional functioning to clarify barriers regarding career progression. The GP has also expressed concern regarding his mood swings and several nasty aggressive outbursts towards his parents. His parents called to speak to you after the first visit but David had indicated in the first visit that he did not want you to speak to them because they “distort the truth and are always trying to control me.” The GP indicated that he has tried various psychoactive drugs to help David but he has always discontinued the medication complaining of side effects. Seroquel, an atypical anti-psychotic, was prescribed to calm him but he discontinued the drug after two weeks. An anti-depressant was also prescribed but was discontinued after a week again due to “bad side effects.” David has enrolled in a BA program and after two years full time study has completed first year. He has a history of not being able to maintain part time employment and he has often lost jobs after a few months due to absences and what he describes as periods of “low motivation.” He is living rent-free in an apartment attached to his parent’s house. His parents provide him with an allowance. He has from time to time devised self-employment strategies to generate an income. These strategies have typically failed in a month or two and have typically ended in him asking his parents for money to bail him out of debt. He describes being able to start thing but rarely finishes anything. He describes feeling “overwhelmed” and typically ends up in a “depressed state”. David has struggled to form close relationships with women that last for more than a few months. He complains that these relationships have usually become too stressful for him and he has had to walk away lest he become overwhelmed. There was a recent breakdown in a relationship due to his girlfriend asking him to pay for and also take cannabis with him. He had asked for a separation and then found that he slipped into a depression and had suicidal thoughts. He stated that he had tried to generate a plan for killing himself but was unable to find a strategy that he could implement. He stated that he did not want his parents and his sisters to suffer and was also concerned about what would happen to his pet cats. His ex-girlfriend had been concerned about his health and had phoned his father. Both parents took him to the GP who succeeded in convincing him to go to a psychologist. He has engaged well with you so far and has been willing to do assessments. He is wary about this GP due to previous prescribing of drugs which caused side effects and also due to a referral to a psychiatrist following a previous episode somewhat similar to his current circumstances. David has two older sisters who have encouraged him to use RSVP to meet women and he has had some partial success in this regard. They also encouraged him to look after his appearance and to dress neatly. Both sisters have completed teaching qualifications, like their parents, and have married. One now has a child. The GP has told you that the maternal grandmother suffered from severe depression and was hospitalized for this condition on several occasions. You have been able to administer the following psychometric measures: - WAIS-IV Raw Scores - Block Design 51 (Block Design with no time bonus = 44), Similarities 30, Digit Span 25 (forward 10, Backwards 7, Sequencing 8), Matrix Reasoning 25, Vocabulary 46, Arithmetic 13, Symbol Search 20, Visual Puzzles 21, Information 18, Coding 46, Letter Number Sequencing 18, Figure Weights 22, Comprehension 31, Cancellation 29, Picture Completion 20. - Ravens Progressive Matrices: o 92nd percentile for age - Reading Subtest of the Wide Range Achievement Test – 4th Edition: o Word Reading Score: 84th percentile for age o Sentence Comprehension: 80th percentile for age o Spelling: 55th percentile for age o Math Computation: 80th percentile for age - Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale: o Depression: 25.0 (severe range) o Anxiety: 14.0 (moderate range) o Stress: 25.0: (upper end of moderate range) o The Scale and scoring interpretations are available on ILearn - Personality Assessment Inventory: o A scored profile sheet and scale description is available on ILearn.

A Psychometric Conversion Table to facilitate conversion from T scores to percentile ranks is available on ILearn o Note that this version of the PAI has been recently upgraded with a new edition. - Projective drawings: o House, tree & person test; Self as a rose bush test o Both drawings indicated poor self-image and self-reliance, possible hostile dependence on family, and limited interaction with environment.