College aantekeningen School Neuropsychology: Mind, Brain & Education (PSB3E-CN04)

1


Notes Lectures School Neuropsychology

Lecture 1 Essentials of school neuropsychology

School neuropsychology
- Integrates neuropsychological and educational principles into the assessment of and
development of interventions for children
- Provides optimal learning environment for every child, including with special needs
- Embedded in the transdisciplinary science of mind, brain & education

Essentials of the field
1. Emerging discipline
2. 1 in 4 student have special needs
3. The role of cognitive differences
4. Tools and tasks of a school neuropsychologist
5. Theoretical model

1. Emerging discipline (60 years)
- First test battery for children (1960)
- Explosive interest in biological explanations of learning and behavior (1980)
- More valid assessment methods for children and the formalization of inclusive
education (2000)
- Emerging specialty area & neuromyths (2023)
- Changes in education: behaviorist approach  constructivist approach
- Left-handedness was seen as a handicap

2. 1 in 4 students have special needs
- Externalizing problem behavior
- Internalizing problem behavior
- Problematic attitudes to work
- Physical disabilities
- Speech, language and numeracy disorders
- Being gifted
- Intellectual impairment
- Autism spectrum disorder
- Being behind in literacy/reading or numeracy

3. The role of cognitive differences
- Strong focus on executive functions (EFs)
- Well researched functions:
o Working memory
o (response) inhibitions
o (cognitive) flexibility
o Planning / problem solving
- EFs relate to all kinds of childhood disorders and every aspect of life
- The frontal cortex is last to mature affecting EF development

,2


4. Tools of a school neuropsychologist
- Test batteries (CH7)
- Educational interventions
- Neuropsychological interventions
- Training of parents/teachers
Tasks of a school neuropsychologist
- Provide neuropsychological assessment and interpretation services
- Assist in the interpretation of neuropsychological findings
- Seek to integrate current brain research into educational practice
- Provide educational interventions that have a basis in neuropsychological literature
- Act as a liaison between the school and the medical community
- Consult with curriculum specialists in designing approaches to instruction
- Conduct in-service training for educators and parents
- Engage in evidence-based research to test for the efficacy

5. The theoretical model
- The integrated CHC/SNP model
o CHC = Catell-Horn-Carroll
o SNP = School Neuro Psychology
o Developed by Miller (and later Maricle)
o Uses CHC as basis
o Integrates CHC functions into a practical model for SNP assessment
o Uses four major classifications of CHC functions:
 Basis sensorimotor functions
 Facilitators and inhibitors
 Basic cognitive processes
 Acquired knowledge
- CHC model
o Measuring intelligence
o General ability: variance in g
o Broad abilities: cognitive domain variance
o Specific abilities: specific test and error variance
- Missing  social cognition: Face/emotion recognition and theory of mind/empathy

,3


Essentials of memory and attention
1. Memory and attention problems may underly learning and behavior problems
- Learning requires highly functioning attention and memory systems
2. Demonstration of cognitive models and tasks
- Attention (components)
o Selective/focused  posterior attention system
o Sustained  subcortical and frontal system
o Shifting  frontal system
- Flashlight metaphor of attention
o The spotlight/zoomlense = selective/focused attention
o The battery = sustained attention
o The movement = shifting attention
- ADHD  problems with sustained and shifting attention
- Learning and memory (stages)
o Encoding  prefrontal cortex (right: episodic & left: semantic)
o Consolidation  medial temporal lobe & midline diencephalon: thalamus
o Retrieval  hippocampus & amygdala
- Repetition improves learning: attention/encoding problems
- Incapable of learning: problems with auditory processing/verbal processing?
3. Working memory plays a central role and tasks are impure
- Verbal and visual working memory closely relates to:
o Attention
o Learning and memory
o Executive function
- Plays a central role in learning at school

, 4


Lecture 2 Mind, Brain and Education (MBE)

Slimstampen
- Based on cognitive psychology principles of memory and learning
- Spreading: learning a fact by spacing out repetitions of facts
- Testing: actively retrieving facts
- 10-20% learning gain
- Fits the Atkinson and Shiffrin memory model




Levels of assessment model
- Informal assessment: intervention by the classroom teacher
- Formal interventions: progress monitoring by the student assistance team
- Psychoeducational assessment: IQ and achievement assessment
- Neuropsychological assessment: sensorimotor functions & NP assessment
- Neurological assessment: neurologist (bv. Brain imaging) or psychiatrist

Response-to-intervention model
- Scaling up interventions gradually:
o Tier III  comprehensive assessment and referral for special education
o Tier II  targeted interventions
o Tier I  general education initiatives

Miscommunication can lead to neuromyths
- False ideas about the brain and its functioning
- Leads to teaching practices, ideas or techniques that do not have a scientific base in
neuroscience
- Can limit human potential and create barriers to learning