This week, PAR staff will be exhibiting at two conferences. Here's a sneak peek into what you will find when you come visit us at the booth!
A group of PAR staff will be attending the 16th American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology Conference (AACN) in San Diego, California. We will have many products on display, including the Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (NAB). We will be offering conference attendees a 15% discount and free ground shipping, so make sure to stop by and say hi while taking advantage of your conference discount!
Another group of PAR staff members will be heading to the National Career Development Association Conference (NCDA) in Phoenix, Arizona. Not only will we be giving our attendees a 15% discount and free ground shipping, we’ll also be giving out free Self-Directed Search (SDS) sample packs at our booth.
There will be two sessions at NCDA focusing on the revised SDS. "Development and Evaluation of Revised Self-Directed Search Materials and Online Reports" will be presented Friday, June 22, from 11:20 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and "Using Self-Directed Search and My Next Move for Veterans" will be presented Saturday, June 23, from 10 to 11 a.m.
To see where we will be next, visit our Conferences and Workshops page.
If you’re looking for a test to identify young children who may be at risk for school failure, look to the new YCAT-2. This latest update yields an overall Early Achievement score as well as individual subtest scores for General Information, Mathematics, Reading, Writing, and Spoken Language. Each of the subtests can be administered independently and all can be transformed to standard scores, percentiles, and age equivalents. The YCAT-2 was normed on a representative sample of 846 children representing 25 states and 226 different ZIP codes. Reliability was studied using coefficient alpha, test–retest, and interscorer procedures. The average coefficient alpha for the full normative sample ranges from .85 to .95 for the subtests and is .97 for the overall composite. The YCAT-2 provides extensive validity evidence for content-description validity, criterion-prediction validity, and construct-identification validity. Visit our YCAT-2 product page for additional information or to order the YCAT-2 today!
PAR is proud to announce we have added a white paper on how to use the Autism Spectrum Disorder Decision Tree with the PDD Behavior Inventory to our website. This supplemental resource will help readers use the products for screening and intervention planning.
Customers can find the new white paper under the Resources tab on the PDDBI page or via this direct link.
The PDDBI: Autism Spectrum Disorder Decision Tree (ASD-DT) can help clinicians navigate the challenging path of a possible autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. Using scores from the PDDBI Extended Form, the ASD-DT can help identify an ASD subgroup or a non-ASD diagnosis. The ASD-DT and the PDDBI provide a standardized measure to help clinicians work through many possibilities to provide precise intervention recommendations.
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Let the PDDBI: Autism Spectrum Disorder Decision Tree (ASD-DT) help you find the way when navigating the challenging path of a possible autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. Using scores from the PDDBI Extended Form, the ASD-DT leads you toward a diagnostic category that can help identify an ASD subgroup or a non-ASD diagnosis. The ASD-DT and the PDDBI provide a standardized measure to help you work through many possibilities to provide precise intervention recommendations. The ASD-DT can be purchased on its own or as part of the PDDBI Comprehensive Kit. Learn more today!
Forty years ago this week, Bob Smith started PAR on his kitchen table. There was just one product—scoring keys for the MMPI. Today, PAR carries approximately 500 print and digital products to help psychologists and other mental health professionals in their assessment process. Along the way, PAR has succeeded in more than just publishing quality assessment products to serve our Customers; PAR has created a culture of caring that extends to staff, our community, and the world at large. This weekend, in celebration of this milestone anniversary, PAR staff presented this video to thank Bob and Cathy Smith for everything they have done to make this a truly special place to work. We invite you to share our open letter to our founders.
This Friday, we will be closed in celebration of our 40th anniversary. In honor of four decades in the test publishing business, we present a list of things you may not know about PAR. Check back next week for a recap of our festivities!
1. PAR released its first product in 1978—scoring keys for the MMPI.
2. PAR was started on Bob and Cathy Smith’s kitchen table. That kitchen table is now in the break room of our South Building.
3. Our Customer Support team has a combined 120 years of experience, making them exceptionally well versed on all of our products.
4. PAR’s Distribution Center has a 99.99% accuracy rate, meaning you get exactly what you need, delivered when you need it.
5. We love to give back. We participate in about 50 events annually to benefit community organizations and donate time and financial support to more than 70 organizations per year.
As we celebrate, we do so knowing that our Customers have made the last 40 years possible. Thank you for your loyal support and patronage.
Looking at things from another perspective often makes them clearer. In psychological testing, for instance, rating scales are often used to glean information about a single client from observers who are close to that client, such as parents and teachers. Used in conjunction with a client’s self-report data, observer reports can give clinicians a well-rounded picture of a client’s functioning. This not only helps them narrow down and identify a client’s diagnosis, but it also helps them develop appropriate and effective treatment options.
PAR’s newest assessment instrument, the Personality Assessment Screener–Observer (PAS-O), is an observer report designed to complement the self-report Personality Assessment Screener (PAS). Derived from the gold-standard Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI)—one of the most important innovations in the field of personality assessment—the PAS screens for a wide range of contemporary clinical problems in just 5 minutes.
Using the same 22 items on the PAS, which were selected because they are the most sensitive to a broad range of clinical problems, the PAS-O provides clinicians with information about a client from the perspective of someone close to that client, such as a spouse, parent, or close friend. It can be used to support PAS scores, validate problem areas, and indicate the need for follow-up testing. The PAS-O is the only informant personality assessment normed on score discrepancies, and it was normed on both community and clinical samples composed of dyad pairs. It takes just 5 minutes to administer and features 10 elements representing 10 distinct domains of clinical problems.
Discrepancy scores for the PAS-O can also be calculated using scores from the full PAI rather than the PAS. If self-report ratings from a client are not available due to confusion, thought disorder, or other limitations, the PAS-O can be used in isolation and provides a metric indicating the likelihood that the client would have an elevated PAI score.
Learn more about the PAS-O or purchase your PAS-O Introductory Kit or PAS/PAS-O Combination Kit today!
Exploring career options can be an enlightening experience—it’s an exercise in learning more about yourself and about the opportunities that best fit your personality. The Self-Directed Search (SDS) is a career assessment created by Dr. John Holland that has been used more than 36 million times.
The SDS is based on Holland’s theory, known as RIASEC theory, that both people and working environments can be classified according to six basic types: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. One of the main ideas of this theory is that the closer your personality type aligns with your work environment type, the more likely you are to find fulfillment at work.
After completing the 20-minute online assessment, you’ll receive one of three reports based on your demographics and job history: The StandardSDS, the StudentSDS, or the VeteranSDS. Your interactive report includes lists of occupations and programs of study associated with your Summary Code that can be customized–you can save, sort, and filter results; learn more about salary data; link to related career clusters; and even search for jobs in your area! Our site is now mobile friendly to make your search even easier, and SDS group accounts and partnerships are perfect for schools or organizations.
So if you are looking for a job, want a career change, or are searching for a program of study, knowing more about what types of potential careers fit your personality will greatly improve your search. Get started today!
The PAR Training Portal give you a quick way to learn more about select PAR instruments. Whether you want to quickly get up to speed on a new measure, become more knowledgeable about a test you’ve used for years, or preview an instrument you are considering purchasing, the PAR Training Portal is a free, on-demand resource available 24/7.
There’s more than just interactive courses! We’ve added author videos, supplemental materials, and more!
It’s built with your time in mind! Start and stop, back up, or watch just the parts that interest you. The training portal is flexible—watch as many times as you want!
We are always adding new material! If you haven’t stopped by in a while, there’s probably something new to see.
Train an individual or a whole staff! Many schools and large organizations have used the portal to train all the individuals in their group. It’s an efficient and cost-effective solution for training.
Visit parinc.com/training today!