Lectures 9 and 10 Flashcards
1
Q
Why are critical periods important? Give and example of one
A
- CNS developing at most rapid rate
- biggest impact
- more complex functions (eg. exec functioning) have multiple critical periods
- always ask WHEN an injury occurred
- eg. language 0-4yrs
2
Q
What happens when a brain is impacted in utero? What may occur?
A
- broader, general effects
- effects brain STRUCTURE
- biological agents (genetics)
- environmental (maternal nutrition, alcohol, drugs, stress etc.)
3
Q
What is the key to how the brain insult will affect the individual?
A
- developmental stage
- timing
- nature
4
Q
What are some examples of ways that a child’s brain may be impacted?
A
- FAS (structural impact, facial distortions, more higher level function deficits)
- shaken baby syndrome (deficits worsen over time > acute bleeding immediately after which then leads to more bruising/damage over time)
5
Q
What is vital to consider in terms of issues in neuro tests?
A
- age norms + range of normal
- can’t assume that an adult test measures the same skills/brain areas in children as in adults (eg. RCFT)
- many tests have limited sample sizes, poor specificity
- note the artificial nature of the testing environment + children are easily fatigued
6
Q
Give an example of a children ‘growing into’ deficits
A
- GAP WIDENS OVER TIME
- frontal lobe tumour
- 5yrs: no evidence of executive dysfunction (but immature executive function normal at 5yrs)
- 12yrs: evidence of impairment > failure to show expected developmental progress toward capacity to plan/problem solve/think flexibly
7
Q
What psychosocial factors are important to consider?
A
- mother-child rship
- stimulation available to the child
- social support structures
- access to resources
- abuse + neglect (type + timing)
- malnutrition
- parenting: high control + low responsiveness
- non-enriched home environment
- toxic stress (neglect, abuse, maltreatment)
- stress + poverty > constantly in fight/flight
8
Q
What impact can psychosocial factors have?
A
- affect brain structure
- cognition (IQ, self-regulation, social skills, language, academics)
- malnutrition + toxic stress = less dense neural connections
- stress: shapes brain to respond automatically + reactively to stimulation
- enriched environment: promote exec function with intention, thoughtful regulation of behaviour
- SES: language + prefrontal exec control
- language relies on specific environmental input at a specific time
- stress + poverty > executive dysfunction
9
Q
What is the context of the child?
A
- child
- family
- school
- community
10
Q
What can affect recovery of an injury?
A
- missed school > deficit or just missed out?
- family > effect on siblings (parent availability), stressors ($$, time, marital, social isolation)
- SES > better recovery with higher SES
- direct effects: impulsive, hyperactive, aggressive etc.
- secondary effects: anxiety, depression > effects of these on cognition
- WORSE OUTCOMES: severity of insult, ES, developmental stage/age
- BETTER OUTCOMES: greater family cohesion, supportive social networks
11
Q
What social skills should you consider?
A
- executive function
- pragmatic language
- ToM
- emotional regulation
- social problem-solving
- social intent/irony
- moral reasoning
12
Q
What factors may impact upon a child’s test performance?
A
NEUROBIOLOGY
- sleep
- nutrition
- medication
- genes
PSYCH
- mood
- family environment (conflict, abuse)
- personality
- behaviour
SOCIAL
- culture
- family (depressed mum?)
- school changes
- SES (resources + stimulation)
13
Q
What can influence the validity of your test results?
A
- fatigue
- stress
- rapport
- cooperation
- mood
- physical factors
- effort
- structured environment of testing
- task persistence
- distractibility
- learned helplessness
14
Q
What do you need to do when administering a test to a child?
A
- fatigue easily
- flexible change hypotheses as you go along
- incorporate data with quantitative observations + background info
- stay on top of theory + research
- use standardised, valid, reliable tests (admin and scoring guidelines)
- MUST translate into practical recommendations
- also get info/ratings from parents + teachers
- support hypotheses with multiple tests and other data (eg. if you think one test indicates a child has poor attention, do another attention test to double-check)
15
Q
Explain the information processing model
A
- for some children, the key to profile interpretation may reside within a simple information processing model (i.e. input, integration, storage and output)
- how was is info ‘taken in’ and how well is it ‘output’?
- problem may be related to input/output and not necessarily the more complex integrative aspects of some tasks (i.e. fluid reasoning) or to the storage components of other (i.e. WM)
