RS510 Chap.5 Fixed, Flexible and Behavioural Assessment Approaches
Fixed, Flexible and Behavioural Assessment Approaches
Three ways to assess
A fixed battery gives everyone the same tests, which buys comparability and broad coverage. A flexible or process approach, of which the Boston process approach is the named example, chooses tasks for the referral question and reads the way a person solves them, including their errors.
The behavioural approach observes real-world behaviour through direct observation, functional tasks, checklists and questionnaires.
Choosing between them
Ecological validity separates the three, rated low, moderate and high in the practical session summary, and the lecture recommends combining test scores with behavioural data.
Antecedent, behaviour and consequence charts, self-report questionnaires and digital testing, including computer adaptive tests that tune item difficulty to earlier answers, complete the toolkit.
Combining the evidence
The lecture's recommendation is integration rather than choice.
Standardised scores give a comparable profile; behavioural observation and reports from family, teachers or carers show how the difficulty appears in real life; and together they let an intervention address both the underlying problem and its everyday impact, for example with written checklists, visual reminders, smaller task steps and regular check-ins.
They also improve outcome measurement, because progress can be tracked in completed tasks as well as in test points.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Fixed batteries and their consistency
- 02
The Boston process approach and error analysis
- 03
Matching the approach to the referral question
- 04
Behavioural observation and ABC charts
- 05
Self-report questionnaires such as the PRMQ
- 06
Ecological validity in standardised tests
- 07
Computer adaptive and virtual reality testing
Worked example · free
Use an ABC chart to plan a behavioural change
- 2Record antecedent, behaviour and consequence.
- 2Propose an antecedent change.
- 2Propose a consequence change.
Key terms
- Fixed Battery
- A standard set of tests given to every patient to ensure consistency, comparability and broad coverage of domains.
- ABC Chart
- A functional assessment record of what happens immediately before a behaviour, the behaviour itself and what follows it.
- Computer Adaptive Test
- A digital test that adjusts each item's difficulty to the correctness of earlier answers, reaching a reliable estimate with fewer items.
Fixed, Flexible and Behavioural Assessment Approaches FAQ
Why would a fixed battery miss a real difficulty?
Because it is comprehensive but not tailored. Its measures of a domain such as attention may be general, so a subtle problem like a working memory difficulty can sit inside an average profile. The lecture's own case shows a fixed battery concluding there was no impairment where a process approach later found one.
What does the behavioural approach add to standard tests?
It shows how a difficulty appears in daily life. Through observation, functional tasks, checklists and reports from the person or those who know them, it raises ecological validity and allows progress to be tracked in everyday behaviour, such as better task completion, as well as in scores.
What are the drawbacks of computerised assessment?
Digital tests are faster, store and analyse data and time responses precisely, but the lecture asks you to weigh accessibility, standardisation and the loss of behavioural observation. A screen cannot record the hesitation, frustration or self-correction a therapist sitting beside the person would notice.
What is the Boston process approach?
A flexible battery approach in which the clinician selects developmental, psychological and neuropsychological tasks to suit the referral question, the person's level of functioning and their response limitations. It draws insight from how the person completes each task, including the errors made, rather than from the final score alone.
Assessment move
For one client, write which question a fixed battery, a process approach and a behavioural method would each answer. If two give the same answer you have chosen too narrow a client; the point of the chapter is that they answer different questions.
