PPT 10 Flashcards
TA Administrations
- Break the habit of “that’s great, excellent, perfect”
- Be sure to rotate the stimulus book if the client turns it
- Be sure to model on BD when you have to do reverse
- Break the habit of asking “can you tell me…”
- 120 seconds, not 1:20
- Prompts (VP and FW) come 10 seconds before the time limit
- Pace of 1 digit/letter per second
Creativity and Intelligence
Sternberg defines a key aspect of wisdom as a balance between the need for change (creativity) with the ended for stability (intelligence)
Essential Assessment Skills
- Sorting Through and Making Sense of Data
- Inference - the act of reasoning from knowledge or evidence
– Inductive reasoning –> bottom up
—From details to conclusions
– Deductive reasoning –> top down
—From conclusions to the implications
- Good writing
Specific Learning Disorder with impairment in mathematics
- Number sense
- Memorization
- Accurate or fluent calculation
- Accurate math reasoning
Dyscalculia - “alternative term used to refer a pattern of difficulties characterized by problems processing numerical information, learning arithmetic facts, and performing accurate or fluent calculations.”
General and Specific Factors in Learning Math
General factors
- g
- Language
- Verbal working memory
- Processing speed
- Phonological awareness
Specific factors
- Numbers sense (numerosity)
Number Sense
Approximate
- Estimation without language or symbols
Symbolic (exact)
- Representation of precise quantities
Currently it seems that symbolic number sense is a better predictor of future math skills
Best cognitive predictors of future math skills
- General cog skills
- Mastery of the exact number system (probably this requires an intact approximate number system)
Processing Speed is a predictor of MD, RD, and ADHD (explaining a portion of the comorbidity)
Verbal ability predicts MD and RD
Verbal Working Memory is specifically predictive of MD
- But also is an important contributor to other academic and other outcomes
Normative Math Development Framework
Approximate number system in early infancy
- Subtilizing–ability to know a small set of objects without counting them
Impairments
Evidence of impaired numerosity
Deficits in numerosity affect development of later counting and calculation skills
Brain Mechanisms
A widely distributed neuronal network is involved in the development of math skills
Etiology
MD is familial and heritable
Genetic Syndromes
Two genetic syndromes invariably come with MD
1. Turner syndrome
2. Fragile x syndrome
Diagnosis of MD
History focused on
- The course of math difficulties
- The extent of impairment
- Familial aspects
Observation
- The process of problem solving
– Counting strategies
– Automaticity
Testing
- General achievement battery
- Math achievement test (e.g., Key Math)
- IQ test (g, language, PS, WM)
– r/o (LI, RD, ADHD)
Diagnosis requires careful assessment of the different math skills involved in math development:
- Number sense
- Counting
- Place values
- Automaticity of math facts
- Calculations
- Word problems
Treatment
Instruction is generally the same as with typical learners - just more of it
Math Anxiety
Can develop early and affect math learning
- Potential cascading effects of avoidance - not progressing - becoming more anxious - becoming more avoidant spiral
- Female elementary teachers transmit their math anxiety to females but not to males
- Intergenerational transmission of math anxiety
– Children of engaged parents with MD developed math anxiety
– Children of disengaged parents with MD did not develop math anxiety
Math anxiety is an effective target for intervention
- Evidence that CBT is effective
- Older students writing about their feelings 10 to 15 minutes before a stressful event was effective in improved performance
- Math journals helped reduce math anxiety in third graders
Specific Learning Disability with impairment in writing expression
- Spelling accuracy
- Grammar and punctuation accuracy
- Clarity/organization of written expression
Written Expression
Not good evidence to support writing disorder as a distinct disorder (however, it is in diagnostic manuals)
Perhaps we just have not developed good tests to detect it (or it is not a distinct construct)
Includes BOTH handwriting and composition
Handwriting:
- There is no good standardization test of handwriting skill
» Use observation and history
Behavioral Observations (dysgraphia)
Writing (obtain a sample, especially under time pressure)
- Not all are messy, but all write slowly
- Under time pressure, quality declines significantly
- Hold pencil awkwardly & tight > so press too hard
- Strokes are not fluid, consistent, or continuous
- Poor spatial organization of letters
– Vary in size and spacing
– Varying heights above the line
– Word placement on the page is irregular
– Left margin may drift to the right
Treatment of Writing Disorder (dysgraphia)
Dx itself is therapeutic because it reframes the problem from motivation
Learn to type (requires less spatial and fine motor skills)
Give additional time for written assignments
Occupational therapy (if very impaired visual spatial and fine motor skills)
Treat emotional sequela
Summary of Patterns of Strength and Weakness Method for Identifying SLD
Research-based
HOT model (History, Observation, Tests)
Methodically determine a person’s strengths and weaknesses (looking for consistent patterns across both ability and achievement tests)
Connect a pattern of strengths and weaknesses to a specific SLD
Develop targeted interventions for that LD
Right Hemisphere Learning Disorders
Right hemisphere learning disorders (aka Nonverbal learning disorders or NVLD)
Strong verbal ability
Key deficits
1. Poor math ability
2. Poor handwriting
3. Poor social cognition (not getting non-verbal social cues)
“Normal”
What does it mean?
Can it marginalize “non-normal”?
How can psychologists support the neurodiverse?
Summary of the Course
Something about the value of assessment
Something about intelligence
Historical contributions and abuses
Current thought and findings
- Flynn Effect (rising IQ scores)
- Disappearing Flynn Effect
- Epigenetics
- Network neuroscience–ability to shift neural connections ~ intelligence
Critical Reviews
- Multiple Intelligence
- Emotional Intelligence
- Mozart Effect
WAIS-IVE, WISC-V, WJA-IV
> Administration
> Scoring
> Interpretation
Started the process of integrating data to glean constructs related to cognitive functioning
> Models
- Discrepancy
- RTI
- Patterns of Strengths and Weaknesses
> Learning Disabilities
- Reading disorders
- ADHD
- Math disorders
- NVLD
