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Context for Nonverbal Assessment of Intelligence and Related Abilities

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Handbook of Nonverbal Assessment

Abstract

This chapter provides context for nonverbal assessment of intelligence and related abilities. The author presents the rationale and a brief history of nonverbal assessment along with the sociopolitical context, focusing particularly on the developments since the early 1900s. One of the strongest early initiatives for the development of nonverbal measures emerged because of the practical needs associated with illiterate personnel selection in wartime. Similar needs were being expressed in the private sector during the first half of the twentieth century. In addition, psychologists and related healthcare specialists began to demand more sophisticated measures of language-impaired individuals, such as those with central nervous system trauma, psychiatric diagnoses, and so on. Nonverbal tests were developed to meet these needs. In general, the assessment strategies mentioned in this introductory chapter of the Handbook of Nonverbal Assessment and described in detail in later chapters are very relevant for assessing individuals who have language-related limitations when expected to perform in mainstream English-speaking environments, i.e., those who are often described as culturally and linguistically diverse. Even so, the most defensible assessment should be multifaceted, and should consist of a nonverbal and a verbal component when possible.

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  1. Department of Educational Psychology & Counseling, University of Tennessee, 523 BEC, 1126 Volunteer Blvd, Knoxville, TN, 37996-3452, USA

    R. Steve McCallum

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  1. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

    R. Steve McCallum

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McCallum, R.S. (2017). Context for Nonverbal Assessment of Intelligence and Related Abilities. In: McCallum, R. (eds) Handbook of Nonverbal Assessment. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50604-3_1

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