A study employing a repeated measure crossover design found that 34 preschool handicapped students performed significantly better with familiar than unfamiliar examiners on tasks requiring a high level of symbolic mediation. No such differential performance was found on items demanding a low level of symbolic mediation. Differential performance in…

Microanalysis of test-related behaviors of six examiners and 15 preschool speech- and language-handicapped children revealed that the children spoke significantly more often with greater complexity when tested by familiar examiners. Differences between familiar and unfamiliar examiners included use of silence, eye contact, and language style and…

Investigates, in 34 handicapped preschoolers, the role of examiner familiarity in the performance of tasks requiring high or low levels of symbolic mediation. Subjects performed better with familiar examiners on tasks requiring high symbolic mediation; no differential performance was obtained on items requiring low symbolic mediation. (Author/RH)

In a microanalysis of the behaviors of examiners and handicapped children during videotaped testing sessions, handicapped students performed better with familiar examiners than with unfamiliar examiners. The children spoke significantly more often and longer when tested by familiar examiners who exercised more frequent and longer intervals of…

A study investigated whether examiners' personal familiarity and professional experience with examinees affects handicapped children's test performance. Professionally experienced and inexperienced examiners were used in test conditions that varied by degree of personal familiarity of examiners and children. Results are discussed. (Author/DF)

Explored the effects of examiner familiarity, task complexity, and mode of response to the test performance of 79 speech and language impaired preschoolers who completed the Symbolic Mediation Test. Results showed children performed significantly better when tested by familiar examiners. Functioning did not depend on the task's complexity. (JAC)

Investigation of the effect of examiner unfamiliarity on the performance of eight learning-disabled (LD) and eight mentally retarded (MR) elementary school students on language tests revealed that, while LD subjects scored higher when tested in the familiar examiner condition, MR subjects scored similarly in the two examiner conditions. (Author/CB)

This study employed a multiple regression to predict examinees' differential performance when tested by familiar and unfamiliar examiners. Subjects were 32 preschool and school-age handicapped children, each of whom had been tested on the Clinical Evaluation of Language Functions, once by a familiar and once by an unfamiliar tester, within a…

Prior research demonstrates that examiner unfamiliarity negatively affects the optimal performance of handicapped preschoolers. The present investigation sought to determine whether examiner unfamiliarity also interferes with the optimal performance of handicapped school-age pupils and nonhandicapped children. Sixty-four subjects (16…

The impact of examiner/examinee familiarity and rapport on psychological test performance is reviewed. Drawing upon research involving hundreds of young handicapped and nonhandicapped children, it was found that certain handicapped children obtain higher scores when tested by familiar examiners. Implications for practice, theory, and personnel…

Prior research indicates that language-handicapped children obtain higher test scores when tested by personally familiar examiners than when tested by personally unfamiliar examiners. The present investigation inquired whether this finding is due to examinees' actual differential performance across the two examiner conditions, or whether it is the…

The effects of examiner unfamiliarity on the test performance of language handicapped and nonhandicapped preschoolers and school-age children are explored. Results indicate that examiner unfamiliarity selectively depresses handicapped children's test performance, constituting a systemic source of error and threatening the validity of handicapped…

This article presents a meta-analysis of the effects of examiner familiarity/unfamiliarity on children's performance during individual testing. Data came from 22 controlled studies involving 1489 subjects. In a typical study, the effect of examiner familiarity raised test performance by .35 standard deviations. Differential performance favoring…

Based on data from 22 controlled studies, this article presents a meta-analysis of the effects of examiner familiarity on children's test performance. It was found that examiner familiarity raised scores especially when subjects were: (1) of low socioeconomic status; (2) tested on difficult tests; and (3) knew the examiner for a long duration.…