Roberts Apperception Test for Children (Roberts-2)

New in the Roberts-2

In evaluating children, it makes sense to look at more than academic ability and achievement. Social understanding, problem-solving skills, adaptability, sources of support, emotional adjustment, developmental issues--all of these things affect children's functioning at school, at home, and in the community. And all are measured by the Roberts-2.

Informing Intervention

This revision of the popular Roberts Apperception Test for Children helps you understand the whole child. The Roberts-2 provides useful descriptive information, telling you how well the child reads social cues, recognizes and solves interpersonal problems, copes with difficulties, makes use of social and emotional resources, and much more. This information is invaluable to any professional who is initiating an academic or behavioral intervention.

The test focuses on the child's social understanding as expressed in free narrative, reflecting both developmental and clinical concerns. It asks the child or adolescent to tell a story in response to each of 16 Test Pictures (available in three parallel sets--one showing White children, one featuring Black children, and one depicting Hispanic children).

The child's stories are recorded and then scored--according to objective criteria--for the presence or absence of specific characteristics. Norms, grouped by age, are based on a sample of more than 1,000 children and adolescents, aged 6 through 18, from all four U.S. Census regions. The sample is representative in terms of gender, ethnicity, and parental education.

The Roberts-2 Manual offers extensive examples of children's stories, along with scoring instructions. It provides evidence of the test's validity, based on comparisons between the standardization sample and a clinically referred sample of 467 children and adolescents. This evidence supports use of the Roberts-2 in clinical assessment of children experiencing adjustment problems and in research on the development of social understanding. 

Guiding Intervention

The Roberts-2 provides comprehensive and detailed insight into children's social perception. Stories generated in response to the Test Pictures indicate where the child is on a continuum of social understanding. Typically, as children become more socially experienced, their stories reflect greater awareness of social convention, more differentiated themes, and clearer resolution of themes and conflicts. And because the test includes clinical scales as well as content scales, it alerts you to social and emotional problems that are outside the norm.

Measuring the Effects of Intervention

The Roberts-2 helps you put the pieces together. It not only provides a more complete picture of the child prior to intervention but also reflects change following intervention. And because it is standardized on nonreferred children, the test is an ideal way to assess developmental change and situational crises in nonclinical children.

The scales on the Roberts-2 have been refined for easier scoring and interpretation. 

Roberts-2 Computer Scoring CD

This new, unlimited-use computer program simplifies Roberts-2 scoring, allowing you to get the job done with greater speed and accuracy. When you enter Roberts-2 stories, the program gives you: 

• Instant access to coding definitions, picture descriptions, common themes, and the author's detailed scoring notes
• A real-time, story-by-story display of codes as you apply them
• Automated error checking to prevent incorrect or incompatible codes
• Automated review to insure the presence of all required codes
• The flexibility to obtain a scoring profile by entering stories and coding text in detail or to simply enter codes for display and storage
• An accurate summary of results
• The option of attaching notes to your report of Roberts-2 results
 

This program helps you learn coding procedures more quickly at the outset and substantially reduces scoring time thereafter. In addition, it allows you to generate reports that provide a clear, accurate, and complete record of test results. 

As a bonus, the CD includes several unscored stories from the test Manual and the Roberts-2 Casebook. You can use these to practice scoring on the computer and then check your accuracy by referring to the Manual or Casebook. 

Roberts-2 Casebook

The Roberts-2 Casebook was created to help clinicians integrate Roberts-2 test scores and interpretation into school, special education, and clinical case reports. Seventeen cases are described: 4 from normally developing children to help provide a grounded sense of typical variability and then 13 chosen to highlight issues for diagnostic categories that are among the most commonly evaluated in children and adolescents--Mild Mental Retardation, ADHD, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Autistic Disorder, Asperger's Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, Oppositional-Defiant Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, Conduct Disorder, Schizo-Affective Disorder, and Schizophrenia. Users can practice scoring cases (sample scoring by the author is provided), use profiles and interpretive discussion to better understand clinical issues in the areas treated, and learn how Roberts-2 results can inform evaluation reports and treatment plans.

Roberts-2 DVD Training Package

The new Roberts-2 DVD Training Package provides everything you need to master the Roberts-2. Just watch the DVD and use the accompanying Workbook, Reference Materials, and Record Forms to practice coding, scoring, and interpretation. You'll learn directly from the test author, Glen Roberts, and you'll also be eligible for continuing education credit. The Training Package includes the following components: 

• DVD

     Gruber, who thoroughly discuss the Roberts-2 and its application.  

• Workbook

     stories. You can use these case studies to test the accuracy of your coding and scoring.

• Quick Reference Materials

     reference guide showing the 16 Roberts-2 Test Pictures.  

• Record Forms

     These two blank Record Forms are used to score the case studies presented in the Workbook.

Convenient and cost-effective, this Training Package is an efficient way for clinics, school districts, and academic programs to teach staff and graduate students how to use the Roberts-2.