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Assessing the Developing Child. Jane Holmes Bernstein Ph.D. Neuropsychology Program Department of Psychiatry Children’s Hospital Boston Harvard Medical School. MIND, BRAIN and EDUCATION in 2011. Mary Cassatt, 1898 Collection Rau Zurich. 4 points…. POINT #1.
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Assessing the Developing Child Jane Holmes Bernstein Ph.D. Neuropsychology Program Department of Psychiatry Children’s Hospital Boston Harvard Medical School
MIND, BRAIN and EDUCATION in 2011
POINT #1 • traditional models for understanding children’s behavior are inadequate to the current task
Traditionally, focused on measurement— of a child’s abilities
Measuring children’s abilities • Psychometric paradigm • Skill based • Factor analysis of cognitive constructs underlying skills • Emphasis on inter-child ranking…
In 2011…. • Neuropsychology: Emphasis on biology
Biological organism behaving in environment
Emphasis on whole childas unit of analysis Analysis is intra-child
Clinical goal …increase success of organism’s behaving in environment [ecological validity defined in terms of organism acting in niche]
Evaluation data collection clinical analysis diagnosis Management education intervention [Rx & Tx] Assessment
POINT #2 Neuro = brain
INSERT CLASSROOM IMAGE NOPE!!
What “drives” brains….? S e x !
What “drives” brains….? S e x ! Perpetuation of the species
What “drives” brains….? Food Fight Flight Friends S e x
What “drives” brains….? Food Fight Flight Friends S e x Preservation of self
What “drives” brains….? ….survival …. of the individual…. of the species….
“What drives brains?” Evolutionary context of ‘brain’
What are brains for? Thinking….
What are brains for? • Doing! Motor action…….
Digression… You are part of an intellectual tradition….
A bit of history…… • For >500 years: • The person has been at the center of how we think about ourselves
Fundamental assumption…. “..autonomous individual is center of knowledge and cognition..” (Dumont, 1965) “..the boundaries of the individual provide the proper framework within which psychological processes can be adequately analyzed..” (Wertsch et al., 1985)
Cognition: = set of processes that are internal and accessible only to the person to whom they belong
Fits with our experience of the world • Important for our psychological health
Fine….. • BUT….. It’s wrong!!!!! And we have NEUROSCIENCE to thank…..
Why is this important? This long-held belief shapes how we understand learning and learners. It shapes psychological and educational research…. It thus shapes our education system. …and,
More recent times…. • Emphasis has shifted from child-as-learner • To child-as-owner-of-the- learning-organ
Brain… get built Doesn’t develop in a vacuum function
No ! • Biological vulnerability versus • Manifest symptom
Physical Brain systems Neurochemical bath Physical world [space, light, sound..] Psychological Social Emotional Beliefs, goals, values Brain-Context interaction
Context Tendency to think SPATIAL context But, not just spatial (here-and-now);
Context Not just spatial (here-and-now); but TEMPORAL contextis critical to the analysis (history: how-did-it-get-this-way?)
Context Temporalcontext: • evolution of THE brain • construction of the current social setting • developmental experience of THIS brain
Recall this… Levels in neuroscience • Genes • Gene expression • Molecules [regulate brain development] • Cells • Chemical circuits • Anatomical circuits • Functional circuits • Activity of mind/brain [normal and derailed feeling and thinking]
Levels in neuroscience • Genes • Gene expression • Molecules [regulate brain development] • Cells • Chemical circuits • Anatomical circuits • Functional circuits • Activity of mind/brain [normal and derailed feeling and thinking]
Levels in neuroscience • Genes • Gene expression • Molecules [regulate brain development] • Cells • Chemical circuits • Anatomical circuits • Functional circuits • Activity of mind/brain [normal and derailed feeling and thinking]