Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale

The Stanford Binet is a form of assessment that mainly targets a human being’s cognitive abilities and scores are aimed at gauging the level of Intellectual Quotient (IQ) of an individual. For an individual to be eligible for this particular assessment, there is an age requirement of 2 years and above with no upper limit restriction. There are four main areas that are targeted by this assessment, these are: Short-Term Memory skills that measure an individual’s ability to concentrate, sequencing skills and short-term memory retention capabilities; Visual Spatial Processing that focuses on the ability to process mathematical operations, visualize patterns and problem solving skills and Quantitative Reasoning that focuses on knowledge and the ability to selectively concentrate on specific targets aside from the ability to apply numerical concepts. There are subsets that are not shared between assessments for the different age groups but the likes of Comprehension, Memory for Sentences, Bead Memory, Quantitative Pattern Analysis and Vocabulary are. Considering the level of robustness in this assessment and the vast history of research and restructuring done aside from the fact that it is the most commonly preferred, it is no hidden fact that there is a high level of confidence on this method thereby making it a reliable form of assessment. The assessment is administered in the form of an exam that candidates undertake and results are then compiled. The examination typically takes between 45 to 90 minutes, but can take as long as two hours to complete (Inc., 2017) . The complexity and the time spent to complete the test is largely dependent on the age of the participant . This is such that, the older one gets, the more complex the test and the more time is required to complete it. There are two routing tests initially taken by subjects: a matrices test that focuses on non-verbal reasoning and a vocabulary test. The results of these two, put together with the age of the subject are the determining factor for the level and number of subsets to be done. A standard age score that corresponds to a particular age bracket, similar to an IQ score is derived from the raw scores based on the items an individual manages to answer. 

Historical Background 

In 1896, psychologist Alfred Binet, accompanied by Theodore Simon who was a physician, conducted research on intelligence assessments focusing their attention on children with mental deficiency among a population of students of the male gender. Their research eventually led them to the development of the Binet-Simon scale in the year 1905 as the first intelligence scale. The test comprised of 20 questions and individuals’ results were graded as either pass or fail and revolved around repeating digits and sentences, tasks that required cutting paper and word problems among others. The Stanford-Binet is an assessment scale was developed in the year 1916 as a revision of the previous Simon-Binet assessment by Lewis M. Terman, a psychologist at the University of Stanford. The Stanford Binet scale saw revisions in the years 1937, 1960 and 1986. The year 1956 saw the death of Terman though he had continued to perform research on his work since its first publishing date. The advent of the second World War made the acquisition of toys that were necessary for the test become more difficult to acquire thus pushing Terman to develop a Third Edition that was published upon his demise. This third edition saw the increase of variety to be used in sampling and allowed for tests to be conducted on individuals from 2 years of age to the adult age bracket. The fourth edition was an improvement made in 1986 by Thorndike Hagen and Sattler. They made overall changes to the design of the test making general ability the summary of the score. Later on, changes were made to when the use of point scales as a replacement for developmental age levels on all subsets making this the most significant change. The revision currently in use was developed in the year 2003 as the Fifth edition. This new edition saw the incorporation of aspects from previous models with improvements being made on psychometric design, content and artwork. 

Strengths and Weaknesses 

Considered one of the best assessments, one of the major strengths for the Stanford Binet assessment is the ability to assess the cognitive abilities of individuals from a very tender age without an upper limit to age restriction. This however, does not disqualify the fact that the main target audience for the development of this form of assessment are the children. A second advantage that allows this assessment to keep its position at the top of the game is the high level of detail of examination that stands out as the only one able to record a full measure of the extent to which an individual is gifted especially among children. Another benefit of this assessment especially the Fifth Edition is its more game like than ever versions with colorful artwork, toys and that it is more manipulative (Chinappi, 2012) It has over the past received criticism for its inability to be comparable across the different age brackets reason being that different subsets (numbering a total of fifteen) of the test are administered to different age groups. One other disadvantage of this form of assessment is the fact that administration can only be done by psychology specialists who in some cases may not be quickly available. 

Article on a specific population 

This section focuses on the article Stanford-Binet &WAIS IQ Differences and Their Implications for Adults with Intellectual Disability (aka Mental Retardation) by Wayne Silverman, Charles Miezejeski et al. The article focuses on the use of this assessment on a group of 74 adults that were found to have had certain intellectual disabilities and compares the results to another assessment procedure known as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. In every case, WAIS full scale IQ was higher than the Stanford-Binet Composite IQ with a mean difference of 16.7 points (Wayne Silverman, 2010) . The articles goes on to point out that the Stanford-Binet assessment would far more likely support a diagnosis of intellectual deficiency as compared to WAIS. Despite this finding, the authors of the article go on to recommend that WAIS continue to be recommended as the preference for assessing intelligence capabilities among adults especially in a forensic setting. Despite its powerful advantages over other forms of assessment and its rich history, the Stanford-Binet procedure, just like its counterpart has not been designed to differentiate between recent mental conditions and impairments that have stood the test of time with enough precision 

Conclusion 

The Stanford-Binet form of assessment is one that has been developed over a period of many decades and is therefore results acquired from an assessment of this nature can be viewed as trustworthy. In the case of the article used, the results produced bring to light the accuracy of any assessments previously made for adults with mental incapability and goes further to bring to light discrepancies arising from the use of this assessment method when compared to the use of WAIS. It is however important to note that the Stanford-Binet procedure is considered the best intellectual assessment procedure especially due to its ability to assess children of tender ages, a fete that methods such as WAIS have so far not been modelled to achieve. The ability of this assessment method to bring out the maximum potential in an individual’s intellectual capacity is one that indeed sets it above the rest of its counterparts. Due to the robustness of the effort put in the development of this particular assessment method over time and the quality of results that can be achieved from, it sure proves to be an adequate measure of intellectual capability. 

References  

Inc., A. (2017). Standard-Binet Intelligence Scale . Retrieved from Mental Disorders: http://www.minddisorders.com/Py-Z/Stanford-Binet-Intelligence-Scale..html 

Wayne Silverman, C. M. (2010). Stanford-Binet &WAIS IQ Differences and Their Implications for Adults with Intellectual Disability (aka Mental Retardation). US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health . Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2854585