Neuropsychology in the Schools: Does It belong?

Abstract

Many neuropsychological paradigms were initially based on adults with documented brain damage. In the past two decades, interest in pediatric neuropsychology has increased. This has been motivated by the belief that more comprehensive evaluation and subsequent differential diagnosis would lead to better treatment and educational programs for children. There continues to be conflicting views in school psychology regarding the appropriateness and usefulness of neuropsychological assessment in conjunction with the traditional psychoeducational battery used in the schools. Issues relating to this controversy, including validity and reliability of neuropsychological measures, information gained from neuropsychological assessment, and the relevancy of this information to specific populations, are discussed. Implications for future research related to the limits of neuropsychological assessment in the schools are highlighted.

Ecological Neuropsychology: An Alternative to the Deficit Model for Conceptualizing and Serving Students with Learning Disabilities

“…In addition, it has been suggested that traditional neuropsychology focused primarily on assessment with little emphasis on intervention (Riccio et al, 1993). While a neuropsychological approach does view the brain and central nervous system as a mediator of all behaviors, a neuropsychologist uses what is known about the brainbehavior relationship to help understand how children learn and process information (D'Amato, 1990;D'Amato et al, 2005).…”

“…Unlike the deficit model, the ecological neuropsychological approach to LD focuses on what the child can do rather than what he/she cannot do (Hartlage and Telzrow, 1983). Such an approach to learning and educational intervention in general is strength-based (Hartlage and Telzrow, 1983;Riccio et al, 1993). Intervention focuses not only on remediation and compensation skills for the child, but also on the match between the child and his/her instructional environment (D'Amato and Rothlisberg, 1996;Leu and D'Amato, 1994).…”

“…LD appear to result from the interaction of genetic and environmental factors (for a review, see Gilger and Kaplan, 2001) and have a variable course either with or without treatment (i.e., some students are successful and some are not) (Epps and Tindal, 1987;Safran et al, 1991). Treatment programs focusing on specific subtype rehabilitation have shown mixed results (e.g., D'Amato et al, 1998;Rourke, 1985) and special education programs targeting specific children with LD have not been demonstrated to be effective (Dwyer, 1987;Epps and Tindal, 1987;Kavale et al, 1987;Riccio et al, 1993).…”

Neuropsychological Consultation with School Personnel: What Clinical Neuropsychologists Need to Know

“…Riccio, Hynd, and Cohen (1993) explained that school psychologists can assist the clinical neuropsychologist with the successful translation of neuropsychological evaluation findings into meaning educational interventions. The school psychologist can be particularly helpful in assisting the neuropsychologist in recommending interventions that are more likely to be implemented in the child's IEP as well as navigating the administrative procedures unique to a given school system.…”

Book Review

“…Much of the initial work concerning the confluence of the two specialties was propelled both by advances in clinical neuropsychology and by federal legislation mandating educational services for all children with disabilities (Hynd and Obrzut, 1981). Several experts have argued that although the number of children with brain impairment is small relative to the total population, those with both known and suspected neuropsychological difficulties nevertheless represent a sizable proportion of the school psychologist's caseload (Gaddes, 1985;Leavell and Lewandowski, 1988;Riccio et al, 1993). Hynd and his colleagues (Hynd and Obrzut, 1981;Hynd et al, 1980) suggested that, with appropriate training, school psychologists were the most logical professionals to apply neuropsychologically based findings to children within educational settings.…”