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Five functions of the school psycho-clinical laboratory

Design · All designs
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 theoretical), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description

The article specifies a five-part functional charter for a school clinical laboratory serving exceptional children: clinical examination of exceptional children, establishment of reliable norms for normal children, acting as a clearing-house for placing exceptional children in appropriate special schools or institutions, training teachers in psycho-clinical testing methods, and supervising special-school curricula while offering courses on the psychology of mental deficiency. Its central aim is "the scientific investigation of abnormalities of development", with examination including graded serial tests, form-board and sensory-motor tests, standardized intellectual tests, and anthropometric measures, and percentile curves plotted for each child.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

  • Full data from the other sources (medical, sociological, pedagogical) so the laboratory can perform its clearing-house function, and reliable norms for typical normal children against which to plot percentile curves

Constraints

  • The laboratory cannot examine all pupils needing examination in a large school system, so testing must be partly delegated to trained special-room teachers; recommendations of the director are not subject to reversal except by the board or superintendent

Target Learners

  • exceptional children: pedagogically retarded, subnormal, supernormal and delinquent pupils

Learning Goals

  • diagnosis, classification and placement of exceptional children, and establishment of developmental norms

Claims

Examples

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Key Sources

  • J. K. W. Wallin. (1911). The New Clinical Psychology and the Psycho-Clinicist. Part II. The Psychological Clinic and the Public Schools. The Journal of Educational Psychology. https://psycnet.apa.org/journal/edu
Page metadata
Field Value
type design
id wallin-1911-psycho-clinical-laboratory-functions
title Five functions of the school psycho-clinical laboratory
description The article specifies a five-part functional charter for a school clinical laboratory serving exceptional children: clinical examination of exceptional children, establishment of reliable norms for normal children, ac...
status review
generated by process:settle-candidates on 2026-10-25
trust unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources 1 — j-k-w-wallin-1911

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