All Kinds of Minds

Transcription

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-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
Institute?

Not-for-profit 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 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 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.

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 FunctionsEight Constructs
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Attention
Language
Memory
Spatial Ordering
Temporal-Sequential Ordering
Neuromotor Function
Social Cognition
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 subskills:
Remembering how sounds and letters are
related
Recognizing sight words
Applying strategies for handling unfamiliar
words
Understanding word meanings
Visualization

Attention
Language

Expressive
Receptive
Memory
Neuromotor Function
Social Cognition
Spatial 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)
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).

Attention
Language
Memory

Short-term
Active Working
Long-term
Neuromotor Function
Social Cognition
Spatial 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.

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.

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”- 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.

Attention
Language
Memory
Neuromotor Function
Social Cognition
Spatial 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
1. correct
2. correct
2. error
3. correct
3. correct
4. correct
4. correct
5. correct
5. correct
6. correct
6. error
7. correct
7. correct
8. error
8. error
9. error
9. correct
10. error
10. correct
TOTAL 7
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 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.
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.

Attention
Language
Memory
Neuromotor Function
Social Cognition
Spatial 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.

Attention

Mental Energy Controls
Processing Controls
Production Controls

Previewing
Language
Memory
Neuromotor Function
Social Cognition
Spatial Ordering
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