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TOVA Comments from
Practitioners
These comment came as a result of a school psychologist's concern
about the usefulness of the TOVA. The comments were posted on the
National Association of School Psychologists Listserve. Permission
was granted to use the quotes.
- "My district purchased the TOVA on an experimental basis. My
experience has been similar to Kim's. The observations of the
child's behavior are more clinically useful than the actual TOVA
data. Furthermore, the data only becomes really useful after
repeated administrations (e. g. before & after a trial of
meds). But this information can be had in lots of different ways,
so it's hard for me to justify the time & expense. Parents
seem to like it, so something can be said for face validity. Other
than that there's not a whole lot to recommend for $500 plus
dollars."
Glenn Williams
- "I have had some experience working with the TOVA in a mental
health setting. My experience has been unfavorable. It seems to
me, and research seems to support this, that children referred for
ADHD all fail the test. Which may mean two things: Either the test
has a 100 percent accuracy rate, or it doesn't give you any
discriminant validity. The reason I gave the TOVA was to determine
children's behavior when under stress. The task is so boring. Kids
tend to start moving around or they fall asleep. It gives my good
information about how they deal with the stress of the
non-reinforcement or the boredom of a task. But to use it as a
diagnostic tool, I wouldn't."
Kim Dielmann
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