Neuropsych Flashcards
What do Neuropsychological Assessments do?
- To explain intelligence-academic gap
-To explain variability in functioning across domains
-To recommend specific remediation and accommodation involved with family
Domains assessed with Neuropsychological testing?
-Intellectual Functioning
-Language Functioning
-Academic Achievement
-Attention/ Concentration
-Visual-Spatial/Visual Motor/Visual Perception
-Sensorimotor
-Learning and Memory
-Executive Functioning
-Social/Emotional/Behavioral
Reasons for Referral?
- Parents question their child’s academic achievement
- struggles with homework
- disorganized
- Faculty notices specific weakness
- Learning specialist or school psychologist already involved with the family
Components of the mental status exam
- General observations (attitude, size for age, parental interaction)
- Behavior (Observe for kinetic activity, impulsivity, and tics; Any difficulty attending to interview/activities; Motor skills)
- Appearance
-Speech
-Mood - Relative to the interview or in terms of talking about the past
-Affect
-Perceptual disturbances (measure against developmental level)
-Thought processes - thought content
- sensorium and cognition
-Judgment and insight
-View on past events. Sees them as good or bad ?
-Reliability and impulse control
Intelligence (IQ) Score
- Q is plotted on a bell-shaped curve
- 100 is the defined “average” for both IQ and achievement tests at a given age level
- The usual (but not invariable) standard deviation is 15 points.
(IQ score) Roughly 80% of people end up with
85-115
IQ - What can it predict? What can it not predict?
- IQ tests correlate with & predict school achievement; a measure of academic intelligence
- IQ tests are relatively stable but not unchanging (stability increases with age)
- Heredity and environment influence IQ scores
- No test is free from cultural influences
- IQ is a score on a test – it is descriptive, not explanatory
- IQ fails to measure many factors – creativity, perseverance & discipline, social ability, etc
Most common intelligence Scales
Wechsler scales (most common)
Others: Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Ability
Biopsychosocial Assessment
Purpose: to assess for biological, psychological, and social factors that can be contributing to a problem or problems with a client
Content: biological factors, psychological factors, social factors
IQ vs. Achievement Test
IQ: tests potential (aptitude), rough guide for identifying kids who may have a LD/need extra help; doesn’t measure creativity, perseverance, discipline, social ability
Achievement Tests: measures acquired skills/knowledge, group and individually administered tests (ex: ACT)
IQ Bell Curve
- Standard curve so that average is 100, standard deviations go by 15 points, 2 standard deviations show a learning disability (significant split between IQ and abilities) this allows us to compare an individual to other people
- People with learning disabilities can have average to high IQ’s… do NOT have to be below average
When someone has a learning disability, what should their IQ be?
Most people with a learning disability have a higher than average IQ. If your IQ is high but you’re not performing well on achievement tests, that’s a disability
Diagnostic criteria for intellectual disability
- Mild (IQ 50-55) to 70
- Moderate (IQ 35-40 to 50-55)
- Severe (IQ 20-25 to 35-40)
- Profound (<20-25)
