Testing Young Children’s Holistically
In my opinion, young children should be assessed and tested according to how they are learning and developing. According to Dr. Howard Garner, there are eight areas parents and teachers can consider for testing young children. These areas includes, “linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist” (Zeiger, 2012). Testing and assessing intelligence is the best way for educators to get some ideas of what young children know or do not know and teach them accordingly. “All children do not learn the same way, so it is only logical that all children do not test the same way. As one student put it “Some people learn by doing worksheets, some by acting it out, some by sculpting, and some by listening” (Bernard, 2009).
“Every individual has a unique combination of the above traits. While one person may be strong in musical intelligence and weak in naturalistic, another is strong in linguistic. MI tests will help determine areas of natural ability and potential. This can then be used to focus on those subjects in school or to build up weak areas or potential problems. Although these tests will help you determine which areas are strengths for your child or students, the best indicator is often just observing your child. For example, a child with musical intelligence will often make up songs and learn music quickly. With this knowledge in hand, you can help your child in any areas which he might be struggling (Zeiger, 2012).
Testing Young Children Holistically in Africa
Many children have special learning needs, in Africa, young children assessed and tested on the development of holistic method and it is a continual interaction between physical, emotional, social, spiritual, intellectually and cognitive change. The age children are allowed to start to school does not have to correspond with their emotional and intellectual means, but it get more complicated as the age of which children starts to school keep changing. “A South African child may start school at the age of five-and-a-half, provided she turns six by June 30 of her Grade 1 year. But by law, a child must start school by the year in which she turns seven”.
In Africa, “Parents who felt their child was ready for school could
apply for admission, provided there was a place for the child and provided she passed a school-readiness test. Two years later, there's a little more clarity around this ruling. Children may
now start school if they turn six by the end of June of their Grade 1 year. And, the department stresses, no child may now be tested for school-readiness unless they've already been accepted by the school. Once they've been admitted, however, they'll usually be assessed to determine where they should be placed within the class. The department says denying a child school entry on the basis that they're not deemed "school-ready" is discriminatory. So it's now up to parents to decide when their child should start school within the government's framework”.
In Africa, when assessing and testing young children holistically, you should look at the whole picture to determine a child’s ability to perform which includes.
Visual perceptual skills (being able to process and interpret what you're seeing),
Motor skills include gross motor (which refers to the movements of the large muscle groups that enable a child to kick a ball, for instance) and fine motor skills (which refers to the movements of the small muscles of the hands, wrists and fingers - eye-hand co-ordination is a part of this).
Fine motor skills include pencil grip and accuracy of lines. Gross motor skills include balance and ball skills.
Planning involves following instructions, both in terms of fine motor skills ("draw a line from the edge of the page to the circle in the middle") and gross motor skills ("take two steps forward and three backwards"). It also involves planning and carrying out self-initiated tasks.
Emotional readiness is a lot harder to determine, but how children actually handle the tests and the test situation is a useful indicator, says Hosking.
Below are more information and resources on testing and assessing:
Family Education – Questions for parents to answer about their child’s learning styles.
Learning Disabilities MI Test – Test based on age range. Explains at the end what your score means and shows areas of weakness and strength.
Surf Aquarium – Series of simple questions for older kids. Will help determine intelligence types quickly and easily.
Multiple Intelligences – Interactive tests in a variety of languages, including English and Spanish. Fill in your child’s age to receive questions geared toward that age group. Options include 11 years of age and under, 12 to 14, 15 to 16, 17 to 18 and 19 and over.
Personality Max offers a basic multiple intelligences test designed to be completed in 10 minutes. You must create an account to take the test.
Literacy Works’ multiple intelligences test is designed for adult learners, but features questions that relate to children as well. Teachers and parents may also take the test with a specific child in mind.
