PSY: 494, Lecture 4
Preparing a room for testing: where would you place the testing table? What problems do you
anticipate? Activity level of child, distractors around the room, parents to remain in or stay out of the
testing room.
Toys for free play observation:
Choice of toys depends on the age of the child and the focus areas you want to observe. As a general
rule of thumb, you should have some cause and effect toys, some puzzles, some sensory materials (i.e.
tactile blocks), some activities for motors skills and some cognitive toys (i.e. puzzles, blocks). Always
check for choking hazards before giving toys to the child.
Areas to observe:
 Exploration- does the child explore a range of toys or just one or two toys?
Social reciprocity- how does the child react when the tester tries to play with him/her?
 Attention- does the child show sustained attention to one toy or does he only play with each toy
fleetingly?
 Appropriateness of play- does the child play with the toys appropriately? I.e. imaginative play
with toy train
 Motor skills and proprioception- does the child show adequate motor skills (gross and fine),
does the child seem aware of himself in space? I.e. not walking over toys or banging into walls
Instructions:
1. Create a list of tasks that would test the following skill sets: Come up with at least 10 activities
for each skill set
 LANGUAGE: Receptive & Expressive
 Motor: Fine and Gross
 Cognitive- categories, sorting, matching, puzzles, memory
PEP 3- Look at the list of activities; tick the skill box which you think the activity tests (pages 4 and 5)
- Cognitive: Verbal/ Preverbal
- Expressive language
- Receptive language
- Fine Motor
- Visual-Motor Imitation
- Affective Expression
- Social reciprocity
- Characteristic motor behaviours
- Characteristic verbal behaviours
PEP-3 Materials