All Kinds of Minds Web-site: www.allkindsofminds.org To Contact NY Student Success Center sspny@allkindsofminds.org or 646.775.6677 To Contact Schools Attuned mdahm@allkindsofminds.org or 646.775.6663 To Contact Dr. Yellin pyellin@allkindsofminds.org or 646.775.6620 Join us for our next Clinician Conference, June 19-21, 2005, Chapel Hill, NC
Interdisciplinary Dynamic Assessments Paul B. Yellin, MD, FAAP National Director, Student Success Program All Kinds of Minds Associate Professor of Pediatrics NYU School of Medicine
Roger, a five-year year-old boy, has become an unmanageable behavior problem in school. He is fighting with other children and refusing to follow the teacher s directions. He gets punished frequently.
Nobody realizes that this child is a bad actor in school because he is confused all day long. Roger is a bright kid otherwise, has serious trouble understanding language fast enough. Most of the day he doesn t understand what s going on. He reacts with aggression.
Then there's Sonia, a bright kid who feels overwhelmed whenever she has to do anything that has several steps-math problems or complex instructions.
There are millions of children like these who have normal or superior overall cognitive ability but are struggling in school.
Kids who struggle in school are often misunderstood by the adult world. They commonly think of themselves as globally deficient or "dumb." compared to their classmates. Many believe they were born to lose, destined to endure failure throughout the course of their lives.
What is the All Kinds of Minds Not-for for-profit institute Institute? Founded in 1995 by Dr. Mel Levine (Professor of Pediatrics & Director of the Center for Development and Learning at the UNC School of Medicine) to apply the latest neurodevelopmental research to the understanding and management of differences in learning. Mission To help students who struggle with learning measurably improve their success in school and life by providing programs that integrate educational, scientific and clinical expertise.
All Kinds of Minds The Institute provides families and teachers with a framework-a a common language and tools-to enable this large, needy and highly vulnerable segment of America's schoolchildren to become more successful learners. Programs Schools Attuned Student Success Program
Schools Attuned Schools Attuned is a comprehensive professional development & service program. Schools Attuned offers educators new methods for recognizing, understanding, and managing students with differences in learning. When implemented within schools, Schools Attuned enriches the way in which all students are educated.
Student Success Program Student Success Program uses the philosophy and framework of All Kinds of Minds to help individual students who are struggling to succeed in school and in life by: Offering individual student assessments, individualized learning plans, and ongoing support. Providing training for clinicians.
Student Success Program Individualized, dynamic assessments by a team of clinicians. We pinpoint each student s strengths and weaknesses. Neurodevelopmental profiles, not labels. Demystification. Individualized action plans are developed that parents can share with teachers.
Neuroscience and Education It is now possible to identify specific brain activities that enable learning and mental productivity to take place. We can use this information to help struggling students succeed. This brain activities can be described in terms of eight neurodevelopmental functions or constructs.
Neurodevelopmental Functions- Eight Constructs 1. Attention 2. Language 3. Memory 4. Spatial Ordering 5. Temporal-Sequential Ordering 6. Neuromotor Function 7. Social Cognition 8. Higher Order Cognition
Neurodevelopmental Profiles Every student, indeed, every human has some strong functions and some weak ones (dysfunctions). It is possible to describe each individual s unique mix of strengths and weaknesses (i.e. neurodevelopmental profile).
Neurodevelopmental Variation There exists enormous variation in the neurodevelopmental profiles (balance sheets of strengths and weaknesses) within any class. Many students struggle in school because they have significant unrecognized neurodevelopmental dysfunctions.
It is possible to analyze any aspect of learning in terms of the neurodevelopmental functions required. Teachers and parent who understand these functions are in a better position to help struggling students succeed.
Academic Skills Reading Spelling Written Output Mathematics
An example of a skill and its component subskills Reading, a skill, is composed of several sub- skills: Remembering how sounds and letters are related Recognizing sight words Applying strategies for handling unfamiliar words Understanding word meanings Visualization
Neurodevelopmental Functions- Attention Higher Order Cognition Language Expressive Receptive Eight Constructs Memory Neuromotor Function Social Cognition Spatial Ordering Temporal-Sequential Ordering
Language-Receptive Phonological Processing Morphological Sense Semantic Understanding Syntax/Sentence Comprehension Discourse Processing
Phonologic Awareness Some students have difficulty distinguishing the individual sounds of speech in language.
Automaticity and Decoding Some students seems to labor through decoding words, and have not established a repertoire of words that s/he reads easily or automatically.
fmri It is possible to monitor brain function in conjunction with various aspects of reading. visual, spatial, orthographic (letter-related) related) phonological (sound-related), and semantic (word meaning)
Composite fmri activation maps in nonimpaired and dyslexic readers engaged in phonological processing during the nonword rhyme task (data from Shaywitz et al., 1998).
Neurodevelopmental Functions- Attention Higher Order Cognition Language Memory Short-term term Active Working Long-term Eight Constructs Neuromotor Function Social Cognition Spatial Ordering Temporal-Sequential Ordering
Active Working Memory Students must recall the beginning of a word while reading the end of it.
Long-Term Memory In addition to remembering the sounds, symbols, and words in one's sight vocabulary, students need to recall what they already know in order t interpret the new material in a book.
Temporal Sequential Ordering Remembering the alphabet, counting, the days of the week, and the months of the year.
Understanding and Reading Understanding abstract concepts or comparing or contrasting ideas when reading.
Student Success Center Assessment An assessment at the Student Success Center is a comprehensive evaluation that begins prior to the clinic visit. Each clinician on the interdisciplinary team reviews background information from parents, teacher(s), and the student, as well as any previous testing. They determine referral concerns and prepare an individualized assessment.
AKOM Clinician Frames of Mind An active effort to make the child feel comfortable, relaxed, and good about himself/herself. An interest in how the child goes about doing something. An openness to seeing things in a child that you ve never seen before in any other child. A diligent search for strengths or latent strengths.
Neurodevelopmental Assessments Should: Deepen the understanding of the student. Make linkages between academic performance and neurodevelopmental functions. Generate a profile of both strengths and weaknesses. Not be synonymous with testing and not be test-bound
Assessment should be a form of therapy!
Neurodevelopmental Assessments Should: Include multiple perspectives. Include a balanced approach (qualitative and quantitative data). Search for recurring themes. Make linkages.
Assessment Components Educational Assessment The learning specialist reviews a homework packet and selects authentic academic tasks to determine present levels of performance in reading, writing, and math, based on referral concerns. The dynamic assessment includes probing for strategy use and evidence of neurodevelopmental strengths and weaknesses linking with academic skills.
Assessment Components Medical Consultation The pediatrician interviews the parents for medical history and other concerns. A physical examination of the child is conducted. Psychology Consultation The psychologist reviews emotional/behavioral checklists and previous evaluations and is available as needed to meet with the child and family.
Assessment Components Neurodevelopmental Assessment An individualized battery of selected neurodevelopmental tasks is administered. Sub-tests of standardized test selected with specific student in mind. Tasks specifically developed at AKOM. Qualitative as well as quantitative. Dynamic and interactive.
Team Conference Using the neurodevelopmental framework, the team formulates findings. Focus on referral concerns. Profile of strengths and weaknesses. Recommendations linking academic needs with neurodevelopmental functioning.
Making Linkages academic skills & subskills neurodevelopmental functions This student s difficulty with math operations stems from weak sequencing and attention.
Demystification Explanation of the learning profile. Initial recommendations. Answering questions. Plan for follow-up.
Elements of AKOM Learning Plan Demystification Demystification - a process through which the child is taught all about his or her strengths and weaknesses using understandable words. Bypass strategies, techniques designed to work around a student s area of weakness. Specific activities (interventions at the breakdown points) intended to try to strengthen the weak area of function. Activities to strengthen strengths.
Report and Continuing Care An comprehensive report includes the child s unique profile and learning plan as well as a summary of the assessment process and findings. Specific recommendations for home, classroom, and additional services (if needed). A consultation with the family takes place after the report has been received. Ongoing support.
Neurodevelopmental Functions- Eight Constructs Attention Higher Order Cognition Language Memory Neuromotor Function Social Cognition Spatial Ordering Temporal-Sequential Ordering
receptive vocabulary task point to the picture of the frog
sentence comprehension examples Point to the white triangle and then the white circle. Go. The gold is silvering the beige. What is the gold doing? What are the different things that this sentence could mean? The man seemed really cold.
Effect of Focal Maintenance on a Receptive Language Task 1. correct 2. correct 3. correct 4. correct 5. correct 6. correct 7. correct 8. error 9. error 10. error TOTAL 7 1. correct 2. error 3. correct 4. correct 5. correct 6. error 7. correct 8. error 9. correct 10. correct TOTAL 7
Making Linkages academic skills & subskills neurodevelopmental functions This student s difficulty with math operations stems from weak sequencing and attention.
Neurodevelopmental Profiles All of us have highly individual neurodevelopmental profiles (our current but ever malleable mixture of strengths and weaknesses). Each profile might work well at some ages under certain circumstances, but not as well at other times.
Belief in the Value of Demystification Children have a need and a right to be demystified, or made aware of their specific breakdowns in learning as well as their strengths and affinities. It is especially critical for them to talk about and name the functions they are working on. It is hard to improve something if you don t even know what it is called.
Specific strategies for specific breakdowns Bypass strategies, techniques designed to work around a student s area of weakness. Specific activities (interventions at the breakdown points) intended to try to strengthen the weak area of function.
Strengthening Strengths The diagnosis and management of a strength is at least as important as the location of a breakdown point in learning or productivity. Strengths can be the ultimate source of success in adulthood and can also be leveraged to improve a weakness. Affinities are content areas or topics toward which a student is naturally inclined. As such, they can play pivotal roles in the quest for success. Some of the greatest diagnostic coups involve uncovering previously undetected strengths or affinities.
Infusion of Optimism The adult world accommodates, needs, and values all kinds of minds to fill all kinds of roles. Every child should be helped to see his or her special possibilities of a life that can be fulfilling and gratifying. The cultivation of childhood optimism and excitement about the future is both healthy and realistic.
Assessment should be a form of therapy!
A A resilient child is an emotionally healthy child, equipped to successfully confront challenges and bounce back from setbacks. from Brooks and Goldstein Raising Resilient Children
Demystification and Resiliency A child can benefit from perceiving his weaknesses embedded in a context of strengths, as part of a profile of strengths and weaknesses - which everyone has. A well-demystified student knows he has a problem, but it s not so bad thus sidestepping both denial and over-reacting. reacting. A child can be justifiably optimistic because the adult world accommodates, needs, and values all kinds of minds to fill all kinds of roles.
Resilience refers to developmental possibilities that can be engaged in all individuals through the provision of support and opportunity.
Our challenge as parents, educators, and clinicians, is ensuring that we do everything we can to provide support and opportunities for all children.
To treat everyone the same is to treat them unequally. We are making a plea for the understanding of diversity, for greater flexibility in education and parenting, so that every child can find success in his or her own way. -Dr. Mel Levine, Founder, All Kinds of Minds
Organization: Why is this child s notebook so disorganized?
Stephen Stephen's binder is a mess. Halfway through his ninth grade year he has it stuffed with notes, returned assignments, and projects for all six subjects. Most of the material in the binder is loose and looks as if it could spill out at any minute.
The book bag in which the binder resides is equally problematic. In it, Stephen has stuffed enough equipment to support a small office. Gym clothes and at least four textbooks are also stuffed into the bag that with all of its contents must weigh at least 35 pounds.
Four principal modes of organization 1) the management of time. 2) the management of material. handling all the critical academic props 3) the use of strategies. 4) the integration of multiple tasks and task components.
Neurodevelopmental Functions- Eight Constructs Attention Higher Order Cognition Language Memory Neuromotor Function Social Cognition Spatial Ordering Temporal-Sequential Ordering
Staying organized for school requires both strong spatial abilities and a strong memory. Students must have an internal sense of how things should be organized. Students must be able to remember where things are and be sure to have them on hand when needed.
Material-Spatial Disorganization 1. A tendency to keep losing things. 2. Trouble remembering what to take in or bring home from school. 3. Difficulty knowing where to put things consistently. 4. A habit of creating nearly insurmountable "messes". 5. Problems organizing a notebook or maintaining an assignment pad.
Neurodevelopmental Functions- Attention Mental Energy Controls Processing Controls Production Controls Previewing Higher Order Cognition Language Memory Neuromotor Function Social Cognition Spatial Ordering Temporal-Sequential Ordering Eight Constructs
Having Materials Ready: Impact of Attention and Memory Looking ahead and anticipating what is coming next. Having all the necessary materials on hand.
Helping a student with weak previewing Give advance notice about upcoming activities and the materials needed for those activities, offering suggestions like: In our next activity, I will ask you to plot these points on graph paper, or, You will need to take out your language book and journal notebook for your next subject.
Helping a student with weak previewing Help the student make a list of the materials needed for an upcoming assignment, and work with them to collect and organize the materials and their workspace before starting work.
Strategies For Home 1. It is important to set up a well organized study office for a child at home. Its location should be thought about carefully. 2. A parent or tutor may need to periodically help keep the space organized. 3. Children with organizational problems may need help maintaining a notebook and making good use of an assignment pad.
Strategies for School 1. Students should not be publicly embarrassed for their organizational problems. More private kinds of feedback and accountability need to be established. 2. Certain students may need to be reminded about what they will need to take home from school to complete assignments (or for other purposes). 3. Teachers may need to monitor the condition of the notebook and the assignment pad of a child with organizational problems.
Strategies for School (Continued) 4. A student may need to be urged to organize his or her desk and locker. Color coded folders in a desk might match those used at home. 5. There needs to be excellent communication between home and school regarding assignments. 6. Children with organizational problems should have opportunities to participate in collaborative activities with peers who are well organized.
Leveraging Strengths and Affinities: For example, students who enjoy working with computers could be encouraged to use organizational software. Sometimes a disorganized child becomes much more organized when he is doing something he or she enjoys and is good at.
All Kinds of Minds Web-site: www.allkindsofminds.org To Contact NY Student Success Center sspny@allkindsofminds.org or 646.775.6677 To Contact Schools Attuned mdahm@allkindsofminds.org or 646.775.6663 To Contact Dr. Yellin pyellin@allkindsofminds.org or 646.775.6620 Join us for our next Clinician Conference, June 19-21, 2005, Chapel Hill, NC