The early childhood version of the storied Stanford-Binet assessment

Ages: 2-0 to 7-3 years (2-0 to 5-11 years for full battery; 6-0 to 7-3 years for abbreviated battery)
Times: 15–50 minutes (30–50 minutes for full battery, depending on age and ability; 15–20 minutes for abbreviated battery
Administration: Individual

Features

• Provides a lower cost version of the Stanford-Binet–Fifth Edition for preschool assessment    
• Provides comprehensive coverage of five factors of cognitive ability
• Includes child-friendly toys/manipulatives
• Includes an entire nonverbal/low-verbal section that requires minimal verbal response from the examinee useful for children with limited English, deafness/hard-of-hearing, autism, and other expressive-language difficulties
• Offers low-end, easier items and toys for accurate measurement of low-functioning children
• Includes a Test Observation Checklist to document behavior during testing
• Offers a Parent Report to help facilitate communication with the child’s parent, guardian, or caregiver

Valid and reliable assessment of intellectual functioning is an important need in many preschool assessment practices. The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales for Early Childhood, Fifth Edition (Early SB5) is a specialized version derived directly from the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales – Fifth Edition (SB5). It provides a psychometrically superior, accessible, and cost-effective test of intelligence for use with young children.

Uses
The applications of Early SB5 are generally identical to those of SB5. The primary difference is that Early SB5 is streamlined for ages 2-5, covering the full range of abilities. However, for ages 6-7, professionals seeking a broad assessment of early intellectual giftedness should instead use the complete SB5.  Early SB5 may be used to (A) assess intellectual deficiencies, delays, and disabilities; (B) assess developmental delays In the cognitive and language domains; (C) use the nonverbal IQ sections to identify developmental disabilities in children with limited English and other expressive language difficulties; (D) plan interventions including individual family plans, individual education plans; and (E) refer children for more extensive pre-academic and neuropsychological evaluations.

Administration

Early SB5, like SB5, has ten subtests. Two subtests – Nonverbal Fluid Reasoning (Matrices) and Verbal Knowledge (Vocabulary) – cover the age range 2-0 through 7-3 and provide initial scores for tailoring the remaining test administration to the ability level of the child.  Toys, manipulatives and brightly colored illustrations help engage young children. The remaining eight subtests offer scores in the preschool range, from 2-0 through 5-11 to measure Quantitative, Visual-Spatial, and Working Memory abilities. Testing begins in Item Book 1 with the two initial subtests, which are retained in their entirety and used to calculate an Abbreviated Battery IQ. All remaining subtests are contained in Item Book 2. This provides a streamlined administration compared to the 3 Item Book format of the full SB5. Each Item Book is designed as an "easel" with illustrations and stimuli facing the child and directions (including all examiner prompts, materials layout, and scoring directions) conveniently facing the examiner, as compared to other IQ measures that require a separate test manual of directions. The Record Form guides the examiner through the administration and provides familiar, easy-to-use scoring directions. In the Early SB5, only the most difficult levels of items have been dropped from the subtests in Item Book 2. Dropping these more difficult items generally has no impact on the scores of the young children typically assessed with Early SB5.

Scoring and Interpretation

The Early SB5 may be scored by hand or scored with optional SB5 ScoringPro software. Scores available for Early SB5 include 10 subtest scores (mean of 10, SD of 3, range 1–19), broad ability (factor index) and IQ composite scores (mean of 100, SD of 15, range 40–160), percentile, optional change-sensitive scores (CSSs), and age-equivalents. CSSs provide an optional, criterion-referenced scale (e.g., related to age level and complexity of tasks) rather than age-referenced norms and may be especially useful in the study of the rapid growth of abilities in children. The innovative "Extended IQ (EXIQ) scores" available in the Supplemental Interpretive Manual provide IQ estimates between 10 and 40, which may be of interest in the study of severe developmental delays.

The newly developed Test Observation Checklist identifies a range of behaviors that may serve as cautions for behavioral or cognitive difficulties that may both affect the examinee’s performance on the test and his or her adaptation outside the testing situation. The twenty-one areas of behavior addressed in the checklist should be followed up through additional assessment including observation, interview, or contact with parents, guardians, or other caregivers. The Test Observation Checklist was developed in cooperation with Dr. Glen Aylward of Southern Illinois School of Medicine, an expert on infant and preschool assessment.

As with SB5, a variety of interpretive frameworks may be applied to the results of this test. The Examiner’s Manual, Supplemental Interpretive Manual, and Early SB5 ScoringPro provide guidance on interpretation.

Early SB5 ScoringPro software also produces a parent report, which includes a brief narrative description and compact graphic representation of the percentile scores obtained by the examinee across the five factor indexes available on Early SB5.

Technical Information
The Early SB5 was normed sample of 1,800 individuals, which closely matches the 2000 U.S. Census. Bias reviews were conducted on all items for the following variables: gender, ethnicity, culture, religion, region, and socioeconomic status. Early SB5 was co-normed with the Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test, Second Edition (beginning at age 4) and the Test Observation Form (beginning at age 2). Reliabilities for Early SB5 are very high for scores across its age range: FSIQ (.97–.98), NVIQ and VIQ (.94–.96), factor indexes (.90–.92), and subtests (.81–.92). Extensive validity studies are reported in the Test Manual and Supplementary Interpretive Manual.

COMPLETE EARLY SB-5 (©2005) KIT (with MANIPULATIVES KIT & CARRYING CASE) INCLUDES: Examiner's Manual, Item Book 1, Item Book 2, 25 Record Forms, and Manipulatives

WARNING - CHOKING HAZARD: Small parts not for children under 3 years. This test includes certain manipulatives with small parts that may present a choking hazard and should only be administered to children less than three years of age, under the close supervision of the test administrator. A trained adult examiner must always closely supervise the administration of the test and use of manipulatives by children.