The Hopkins Verbal Learning Test–Revised™ (HVLT-R™) and the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test–Revised™ (BVMT-R™) are now available for scoring on PARiConnect. The HVLT-R assesses verbal learning and memory, while the BVMT-R measures visuospatial memory. Both tests are neuropsychological assessments that can be used together as part of a battery.
HVLT-R and BVMT-R Score Reports generated by PARiConnect provide:
A score summary table that provides raw scores, T scores, and percentiles
A raw score profile
A T-score profile
Save valuable clinical time by letting PARiConnect handle the scoring. Now you can easily score these assessments online and without the expense of software or licenses. Learn more about the HVLT-R and the BVMT-R now!
Don’t have a PARiConnect account? It’s easy to sign up! Learn more
Interested in research conducted using the HVLT-R and BVMT-R? Click here and here to see our lists of research articles.
Related article: New on PARiConnect: Digital Library
Bark in the Park, an annual fundraiser for the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, is one of PAR’s most popular staff events. It brings together our mission of giving back with our love of animals. In 2020, it was our final in-person group event before the pandemic and quarantine.
The event was virtual this year due to COVID concerns, but that didn’t stop the PARty Animals from rolling up their sleeves and raising money for Tampa’s homeless, hungry, and helpless animals.
Neighborhood walks coupled with a robust fundraising campaign led to an all-time high of more than $11,000 in donations. PARty Animals Captain Melanie Casey, PAR’s Communications Manager, and CEO Kristin Greco attended a scaled-down event at the recently renovated HSTB shelter on March 27 where they learned, following a tight race, that they were this year’s “Top Dog” fundraisers.
The HSTB raised more than $125,000 overall, which will help house, heal, and feed more than 500 animals. Learn more about the event and HSTB at humanesocietytampa.org.
This week’s blog was contributed by Jeremy Sharp, PhD, licensed psychologist and clinical director at the Colorado Center for Assessment & Counseling and the host of the Testing Psychologist Podcast. Dr. Sharp earned his undergraduate degree in experimental psychology from the University of South Carolina and earned his master’s degree and doctorate in counseling psychology from Colorado State University. He specializes in psychological and neuropsychological evaluation of children and adolescents and provides private practice consulting for psychologists and other mental health professionals who want to start or grow psychological testing services in their practices. He lives in Fort Collins, Colorado with his wife (also a therapist) and two kids.
First, what IS trauma? The DSM-5 definition is easy to find, but the very first requirement for a PTSD diagnosis (“Exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence…”) does not capture the broad range of experiences that may lead to a trauma response. Right away, we find the categorical nature of the DSM-5 may not adequately conceptualize or capture the huge continuum of traumatic experiences. I think we can all agree that not all “traumatic” experiences involve exposure to death, serious injury, or sexual violence. What about neglect? What about emotional or psychological abuse? It is necessary to further define trauma and the many ways it can occur. One way to break it down a little further is to distinguish between acute (“Big T”) trauma and developmental or complex (“little T”) trauma.
Acute trauma refers to a discrete event that occurs at a single point in time. With acute trauma, one can generally identify a clear change in functioning from before the event to after the event. An acute trauma may be something like a sexual assault, a car accident, or being held up at gunpoint. Complex trauma is more complicated and refers to ongoing, recurrent traumatic experiences. When these recurrent traumatic experiences happen during childhood, the collective experience is called developmental trauma.
Related post: Assess the impact of the pandemic on kids—the PASS-12 is now available!
Why is this distinction relevant for us as clinicians? Because it affects how we assess and treat individuals. We know that individuals with acute trauma typically may have a quicker path to recovery, while individuals with complex trauma tend to show more chronic symptoms. Acute trauma is also easier to assess in the sense that we are only gathering information about one event, with a relatively clear before and after, while complex trauma tends to be multilayered.
Regarding the assessment process specifically, detailed questions about trauma should be included in nearly all diagnostic interviews. As mentioned earlier, many parents and individuals can overlook or downplay potentially traumatic experiences. Kids also may not share their traumatic experiences with their parents or others unless asked directly. There are a couple of ways to get at these concerns without coming across as too heavy-handed. One is to say something like, “Tell me about some of the most important events in your life” or “What are the top three hardest/worst things that you can remember?” or “Have you held any secrets for a long time that you’d like to share?” Note that forensic interviewing is a clear subspecialty in our field. Do NOT practice outside the scope of your expertise! Another way to explore these questions is to use a broadband questionnaire as a guide for topics/events to inquire about. If your client shares anything that warrants further exploration, you can integrate a narrower questionnaire to drill down on specific trauma symptoms.
Moving further down the path of the assessment process, it is important to think through the relationship between trauma and other mental health diagnoses. A question that comes up often is, how to separate trauma from ADHD/autism/anxiety, etc. As Dr. Maggie Sibley and Dr. Julia Strait noted on past Testing Psychologist podcast episodes, maybe we don’t. Maybe we need to stop thinking about how to separate these diagnoses, because it is nearly impossible to do so, particularly in the case of developmental trauma. Even going by the DSM-5 definition of PTSD or acute stress disorder, there are many PTSD symptoms that occur in other diagnoses. These symptoms include repetitive play (autism), intrusive memories/thoughts (OCD), distress when exposed to certain cues (specific phobia), poor memory (ADHD), and alterations in cognition (depression, anxiety, ADHD), just to name a few. Unless we have a clear picture of functioning before the trauma started, it is extremely challenging to know if these symptoms “belong” to the trauma or something else. In these (and all) cases, gathering an accurate history is crucial to establishing context to interpret an individual’s symptoms and assessment results.
In cases when an accurate history is not available from the primary caregiver, clinicians may need to expand the scope of the evaluation and incorporate a broader record review or interviews with additional people in the client’s life. Even then, we sometimes must simply do our best with what we’ve got to come up with meaningful conceptualization and recommendations.
Ultimately, we want our assessment to guide treatment and provide helpful recommendations for our clients. By conducting a thorough clinical interview; utilizing well-standardized assessment instruments; and providing realistic, evidence-based recommendations, testing psychologists play a vital role in helping individuals identify and heal from their adverse experiences.
Catch up with the Testing Psychologist podcast on their website, via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or on Spotify.
The PAI Plus takes the existing PAI items and gives users an updated way to interpret the data. Using the original PAI items, the new report offers:
DSM-5® update: Diagnostic possibilities align with the most up-to-date criteria.
Alternative Model for Personality Disorders Profile: An optional new profile scores the PAI in accordance with the model.
Additional supplemental indices: 15 new supplemental indices plus supplemental clinical indicators provide additional profile information.
Context-specific norm groups: Profile overlays for new normative groups can be compared to the examinee’s profile.
Related post: Now on the Training Portal: PAI Plus webinar!
The PAI-SP offers exclusive features
The PAI Plus Interpretive Explorer, only available on the PAI-SP, enables you to interact with PAI reports to access definitions, review supplemental indexes, and compare client data with normative and clinical samples to offer additional insights into your client.
Further additions allow users to compare client scores to context-specific norm groups via z scores.
Order or upgrade today!
Are you doing research with a PAR product and think it could help others? We are looking to gather additional data on our existing tests with the goal of further validating our instruments, identifying and developing product enhancements, or adding features that allow our Customers to better meet the needs of those they serve.
We are inviting clinicians, researchers, and other professionals to partner with us to advance the scope of solutions we can provide, especially focusing on better helping underserved populations.
Could your data help others? We would love to talk to you about it!
Click here
School social workers have always played a pivotal role in our schools and communities. Their important role has really come into the spotlight this year, more than ever. With National School Social Work Week occurring this week, we at PAR would like to publicly express our gratitude and thanks for everything school social workers are doing to make our schools better places for all. The theme of this year’s awareness week is “Beacon of Hope: School Social Workers—Lighting the Way.” Thank you to our school social workers for being that beacon of hope during this very unusual time. The work of school social workers goes beyond students, helping administrators, teachers, educators, parents, and the greater community to thrive.
Resources to promote National School Social Work Week
The School Social Work Association of America provides members resources, including posters, images, downloadable materials, and more.
Need some ideas on how to celebrate and acknowledge school social workers? The Illinois Association of School Social Workers provides a downloadable list of fun suggestions as well as a list of ways school social workers can increase the visibility of the field.
The New York State School Social Workers’ Association has put together a list of activities as well as downloadable posters to help school social workers get out the message about the important work they do.
To learn more about PAR products that can be useful in school settings, visit our School Resources page.
Research shows an increase in alcohol use during the pandemic and quarantine. Now, PARiConnect gives you a simple tool to screen for alcohol use disorder with the addition of the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST) to the ChecKIT family.
As part of the ChecKIT family, the MAST can be used with other checklists to create a personalized inventory—simply choose the checklists that fit your client needs!
Learn more about ChecKIT and the MAST now!
Although NASP 2021 will not be in person this year, there are still so many opportunities to connect, learn more about your favorite PAR products and authors, and interact with PAR staff members. Join us during one of the following sessions:
LIVE session! Attendees will receive NASP CPD credit
Wednesday, February 24, 1:30–2:30 p.m.
Teleassessment With Children: Strategies for Success
Presented by Carrie A. Champ Morera, PsyD, NCSP, LP; Terri D. Sisson, EdS; and Dan Lee, BS
On-demand sessions! Attendees can claim CPD self-study credit
A Process Oriented Approach for Identifying and Remediating Reading Disabilities
Presented by Steven G. Feifer, DEd, and Jack A. Naglieri, PhD
The Neuropsychology of Written Language Disorders
Presented by Steven G. Feifer, DEd, author of the FAR, FAM, and FAW
Identifying Students with ADHD: Evidence-Based Assessment with the BRIEF2
Presented by Peter K. Isquith, PhD, coauthor of the BRIEF2
Tests and Scales: Evidence for Integrative Assessment of Executive Function
Helping Students Show What They Know: Enhancing Executive Functioning
Presented by Steven C. Guy, PhD, coauthor of the BRIEF2
State of Affairs: Trauma Assessment Practices in Children and Adolescents
Presented by Carrie A. Champ Morera, PsyD, NCSP, LP, PAR Project Director
Visit the booth!
Enjoy our industry-best Customer Support at our virtual booth. Make sure to stop by the virtual booth to download your coupon for 15% off all orders placed February 23 to March 9.
Register for NASP now! We can’t wait to “see” you online!
February 14-21 is Alzheimer’s and Dementia Staff Education Week. This week brings awareness to the importance of properly training individuals from a variety of fields. Whether you are a health care provider, 911 operator, first responder, clergy member, elder care attorney, or have another role working with the elderly, this week focuses on the importance of comprehensive dementia education.
Beyond educating individuals beyond those in mental and physical health care about the importance of dementia education, the week also shines a spotlight on caregivers supporting individuals with these diagnoses.
Some resources for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia care
The National Institute on Aging is the primary government agency conducting research on Alzheimer’s disease.
The Alzheimer’s Association is the leading voluntary health organization in Alzheimer’s care, support, and research. The association’s website offers resources for caregivers as well as those living with Alzheimer’s.
The National Council of Certified Dementia Practitioners (NCCDP) provides resources, including seminars and training. NCCDP members may download a free Alzheimer’s and Dementia Staff Education Week toolkit from their website.
Need help assessing for neurocognitive impairment?
Patients with neurocognitive impairment such as dementia are often unreliable reporters of their symptoms. An observer—such as a family member, friend, or home health care nurse—can often provide valuable insight into an individual’s functioning. The Older Adult Cognitive Screener™ (OACS™) is a quick informant rating scale that helps provide information on a patient’s mental status and determine if there is a need for more in-depth testing. Learn more about the OACS.
The Dementia Rating Scale–2™ (DRS-2™) measures mental status in individuals with cognitive impairment. It assesses an individual’s mental status over time.
PARiConnect is the industry’s best online assessment platform. And now it has gotten even better with the introduction of the Digital Library.
What is the Digital Library?
It’s an online location within PARiConnect that stores all e-Manuals purchased from PAR in one convenient place.
How do you access the Digital Library?
Simply log into your PARiConnect account to access all your materials. Once you are logged in, you can find the Digital Library under the Quick Links section.
What are the benefits of the Digital Library?
Additional flexibility! Now you can easily access your materials from most internet-connected devices.
Have digital manuals, but don’t have a PARiConnect account?
Register for free and get 3 free assessments and reports plus easy access to your digital e-Manuals.