Evening star., 1932-01-10
Intelligence Tests Put
Pupils in Proper Places

Continued From Third Page)
OF these standardized testS-that grow
ing out OF the pioneer work of Binet
and Simon in France and Terman in
this country-involves the use Of
words and symbols which are familiar
in the everyday world about us. A
child of 3, for instance, is asked to give
the names when shown pictures of a
number of familiar objects.
AT older levels he will be given an
increasing variety Of problems involv-
ing the use OF vocabulary, change max
ing, the recognition Of sbsurdities, and
so en-. When a great many different
| tests are tabulated they give a fairly
stable picture Of the average child's
capacity In relation to his age
But such tests do not give a fair or
complete picture of the capacity OF
some children-those, for instance, who
come from homes where foreign Ian
guage is spoken. or those who have a
language difficulty. To meet this need
performance" tests have been devised
In these the child responds by doing or
performing" In contrast to the verbal
response, either written or spoken.
A boy OF 8, who had a serious speech
difnculty, had always been considered
mentally defective because he could not
make himself understood. AS a carry
over from his defect in speaking he re-
fused to write or to have anything to
| do with words" in any form. But on
the performance test his rating was
hopefully above average. He and his
| parents were given new courage to face
his difficulty and master it,
With normal children also, particu-
larly with those of pre-school age, per-
formance tests give valuable informa-
ton to supplement the verbal tests
| Most performance tests are Of the
| form board yarity chat is, wooden
boards from which blocks of various
forms have been cut), or various kinds
| OF picture puzzles, which range from
the very simple TO those which chal-
lenge adult capacity.
Other Tests Used.
Many performance tests not Of the
form board type also have been used
! especially with young children. Ex-
amples Of these are building towers OF
blocks, copying figures, punching out
perforated holes in sheet Of paper
matching colors, stringing beads ano
! buttoning large buttons.
| There was Anton. His parents were
the hard working, self-sacrificing kind
who were determined that their boy
! should have the education they had
| been denied. He was affectionate, ap-
preciated their sacrifices, worked hard
and barely Scraped through two years
in high school.
Now, he spent all his free hours in
| the art work room; he drew in study
hour; he daydreamed in class; his
grades sank and college became more
and more impossible. His father
stormed and took away his allowance
Anton agreed that he probably was
just lazy goodfor nothing. He was
terribly harassed and thought of suicide
At this point it was fortunately pos
slble to give him and his parents some
special guidance. The results Of o
series of mental tests showed that he
had an I. @. which could hardly be
expected to cope with high school work
at all. Transferred to an industrial art
school. and with the pressure to meas
ure up to scholastic standards and pa
rental ambitions relaxed, Anton Il
showing remarkable promise as a work
er on textiles.
By-produets Important.
Although each mental test was made
! 10 test some particular capacity, there
are "by-products" of testing which
psychologists realize are at least equally
important. How child gets down te
work, how he answers questions, wheth.
er he is laxative or silent, whether hi
Is friendly or hostile-au these anc
many other attitudes give invaluable
sidelights on his personality.
SPECIFIC personality tests are also
being worked with; although objectiv,
standards have not yet been fluffy de.
veloped for them, they can be very help
ful II skillfully interpreted So many
maks-up Of any individual, child q