Parental involvement in child assessment: A dynamic approach

Abstract

Initiatives in intervention programs for young children have strongly recommended that parents be involved in the assessment process. This is to contribute toward a more accurate diagnosis of and prescription for the developmental progress of the child. Child assessment has been an area in which the specialist retains strong professional control but a focus on parental involvement in assessment today is timely for ethical, theoretical and practical considerations where the parental role can be expanded. The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of a dynamic approach or the mediated learning experience theory (Feuerstein 1980) as a framework which underlies the parental role in the assessment process. This dynamic procedure places great importance on the pretest/mediation/posttest model and is based on ten experiential criteria. (Tzuriel, 1997). It is hoped that this study will stimulate further research on how parents’ competence as a mediator of learning and social experience can be enhanced. A case study of parents assessing their children at home will be examined and discussed. A variety of issues concerning dynamic assessment for older children and the training of professionals who work with families will be explored.