Govt pushes for ‘make in india' in diagnostics rolls out iq test to assess intellectual disability

Govt pushes for ‘make in india' in diagnostics rolls out iq test to assess intellectual disability

The government has rolled out the first of its kind ‘Indian Test of Intelligence’ to assess the level of intellectual disability of a person.

The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) under the ministry of social justice and empowerment sees this IQ assessment test kit as a critical step forward as it minimises the reliance on tests developed in other countries.

Developed by National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities (NIEPID), the IQ assessment test kit, after trials, has been approved by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). This IQ assessment test kit in addition to the IQ tests already validated for use will now be used for issuance of Unique Disability Identity (UDID) certificates.

The minister for social justice and empowerment Virendra Kumar on Monday handed out UDID cards to seven children whose IQ levels were established using this new tool and the results accepted as a validation by the concerned medical authority for issuance of the unique ID.

‘As the overall database of UDID certified adults and children including those with intellectual disabilities stands at around 1.06 crores, we sees this IQ test kit as a critical step forward in giving a push to affordable ‘Make In India’ diagnostics to reach more people through psychologists trained to use this test kit,’ DEPwD secretary Rajesh Aggarwal said. He also shared that this test kit is affordable and will be accessible to Indian psychologists who will be trained in special workshops being organised by NIEPID across the country.

NIEPID director BV Ram Kumar said most of the existing tests are either adaptation and about 60-70 years old, which reflects gaps in informational, technological and global advancement that would have impacted the cognition of the current age population.

He further shared that other commonly used tests for intellectual assessment are not standardised to the Indian population with sample sizes being small and hence cannot be generalised to a very wide and varied Indian population.

‘Considering all these factors, ‘NIEPID Indian test of intelligence’ is an attempt to provide an assessment of intelligence, which would be relatively suitable and relevant to current contextual and environmental conditions of our country,’ Kumar explained. He added that the test is based on five factors - knowledge, fluid reasoning, quantitative reasoning, visual spatial reasoning and working memory. It is meant for assessing intelligence of children between ages 3 -18 years and the process is flexible to suit an individual’s behaviour limitations.