What is the CAP?
Cognitive Abilities Profiling
The CAP draws upon developmental psychology concepts, such as Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development and Luria’s model of mental processes, as well as the work of Feuerstein and Lidz in the field of Dynamic Assessment. The theories have been operationalised in the CAP which has enabled the benefits of dynamic assessments models to be embedded within a consultation/ observation framework for use by psychologists, teachers and therapists etc., to analyse the components of curriculum tasks and a learner’s approach to tasks and other activities, without necessarily requiring lengthy individual assessment.
Why Use CAP?
How Will It Support Students?
The CAP uses consultation in a specific and structured way and enables scoring of the learner’s functioning by agreement of all those who work with the child, leading to a detailed profile of the learner’s cognitive abilities. Joint discussion and joint negotiations for each cognitive ability is carried out by a process of triangulation, a well- known technique used in inter-rater reliability studies. The CAP has seven domains, each describing specific cognitive processes associated with that domain of functioning.
Alexander Luria (1980) developed his concepts through his clinical studies of adult patients with brain syndromes and injuries. The CAP may be the first time Luria concepts are being used within a consultation framework. Luria’s neuropsychological model has been adapted for use in some well- known educational psychology tests, such as the Cognitive Assessment System (CAS) and the PASS theory was based on Luria’s work (Das, Naglieri & Kirby, 1994). The NEPSY (Korkman et al. 2007) has adapted Luria’s concepts for neuropsychological testing of children and in part, so has the Kaufman ABC (Kaufman et.al, 2004). In the DA field, Lidz’s Curriculum Based Dynamic assessment (CBDA) uses a similar, Luria- based domain structure (Haywood and Lidz, 2007).
Another novel aspect of the CAP, is the CAP Rating Scale, which is a Likert- type scale based on Vygostky’s concept of the ZPD. It may be the first time that the ZPD has been adapted into a rating scale of this kind. Thus the way in which cognitive abilities are scored in the CAP and are re-scored over time, is quite different from the kind of scoring found in most psychometric educational tests.
The CAP has adapted a concept derived from Feuerstein’s LPAD, known as the Cognitive Map (Feuerstein et al. 1995), influenced by Guttman’s Facet theory (1959 ) to create a structure for task analysis (CAP section C). The CAP has a scoring rubric for task analysis (if the CAP user chooses to observe the learner) in or out of a classroom. The results are combined with the learner’s scores to construct the Profile. S-M-A-R-T targets are used as goals for cognitive intervention and are systematically re-rated over time. Thus, in systematic scoring and re- scoring, the CAP aims to achieve good standards of interrater-reliability over time.
Who is the CAP Client?
The CAP supports teachers, parents, therapists, learning-support assistants (LSA’s), caregivers, etc. The end client of course is the child, adolescent or adult for whom the CAP is being used.
Other Important Information..
The CAP Is Not A Test!
Can the CAP Be Combined With Other Forms of Assessment?
The Cap Is Not Age Limited!
The CAP uses a framework of structured consultation between all those involved with the learner, (child, adolescent or adult) to discuss and rate some important cognitive abilities by those who work with or best know the learner, on an ongoing basis.
The ‘team’ consultation is facilitated by the person who leads the CAP consultation, likel
The CAP uses a framework of structured consultation between all those involved with the learner, (child, adolescent or adult) to discuss and rate some important cognitive abilities by those who work with or best know the learner, on an ongoing basis.
The ‘team’ consultation is facilitated by the person who leads the CAP consultation, likely to be a psychologist, therapist, trained specialist teacher etc.
The Cap Is Not Age Limited!
Can the CAP Be Combined With Other Forms of Assessment?
The Cap Is Not Age Limited!
Because the CAP is not an age- normed psychometric test, it can be used for a learner of any age. For example, in England and Wales, Educational Psychologists have responsibility for young adults beyond their school years, 18- 25 years. For this group the CAP can play a useful role in ecologically valid assessment of functioning across d
Because the CAP is not an age- normed psychometric test, it can be used for a learner of any age. For example, in England and Wales, Educational Psychologists have responsibility for young adults beyond their school years, 18- 25 years. For this group the CAP can play a useful role in ecologically valid assessment of functioning across different settings. As with DA, cognitive abilities can be assessed and targeted at any age from early years on, the CAP has no upper age limit.
Can the CAP Be Combined With Other Forms of Assessment?
Can the CAP Be Combined With Other Forms of Assessment?
Can the CAP Be Combined With Other Forms of Assessment?
Yes. The CAP is designed to be flexible in use and to complement other forms of assessment. It is not designed to be used as a stand-alone tool for diagnosis, but can contribute evidence leading to clinical diagnoses.
Welcome!
Most of this site is functioning well, but bear with us whilst some service pages are under construction! 🛠🛠🔨✂🔧⚙🔎🧰
You'll always be able to find out more by dropping us a line, so check out the 'Contact Us!' page, for more up to date information if you can't find it here... yet! 📩📞
Thanks for your patience! 😊