Linking Mind, Brain, and Education to Clinical Practice: A Proposal for Transdisciplinary Collaboration

Abstract

It has been suggested that the field of Mind, Brain, and Education (MBE) requires a stable infrastructure for translating research into practice. Hinton and Fischer (2008) point to the academic medical center as a model for similar translational work and suggest a similar approach for linking scientists to research schools. We propose expanding their model to include a formal role for clinicians. Including clinicians who work with children with learning problems brings an important perspective to the translational work. For example, the integration of the concept of ''differential diagnosis,'' a core precept in clinical medicine, would bring needed diagnostic specificity to the field of MBE. We describe a virtual infrastructure for collaboration, or ''collaboratory,'' consisting of research scientists, educators, and clinicians, linked to an academic institution. We anticipate that MBE graduates can play a critical role in the collaboratory model. With additional training, they can become ''neuroeducators'' capable of moving comfortably among the disciplines, building linkages, fostering communication, and facilitating collaboration.Increasingly, neuroscientists are identifying the neural processes associated with brain development, the acquisition of academic skills, and disorders of learning. Integrating this emerging knowledge into education has been difficult because it requires collaboration across disciplines. The field of Mind, Brain, and Education (MBE) has emerged as a transdisciplinary

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