school psychology | EDU PSYCH LAB

mayo 5, 2016
de Lorena Álvarez 2 comentarios

Creative Thinking, Innovation and «that» MindSet

Visnes, Rogaland (Norway)

Psychology, Education & Business

– Are you talking about cognitive processes or business?
– Both!
– What do you mean?
– What´s inside their minds when they try to innovate?
– How many years have you been abroad?
– Twelve days! (but in Visnes…)
– Do you want to talk about inventions? I wasn´t looking to that direction…
– Yes, because we should look where nobody is looking to see what others aren´t seeing! – Right?
– Are you talking about education or economical growth?
– I´m talking about unlocking creative potential in people´s minds!
– Do you mean regard this process as other cognitive processes?
– I mean, how would be if we train, develop and improve the mindset and skills behind innovation from a very early age at schools or … later on in life.
– How do you pretend link “all this” with number cognition and planning skills?

– We have proved, and we actually have evidence that number cognition is linked with the executive brain, which involves higher order tasks such as reasoning and decision making… We send information from the frontal lobes to the back of the brain all time, involving “higher-and-lower-level-processing” and so through this interaction, we represent the world and we transform things in something new; imagination.

Companies are like brains!

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enero 5, 2016
de Lorena Álvarez 1 comentario

Understanding Learning Troubles

DNA & Learning

– What is the cause of learning disabilities?
– Why is this happening to my kid?
– How can we help our kid?
– Are we doing something wrong?

These 4 questions are the most common in learning disabilities context. During the last month, we have been working on this area, trying to provide information to parents regarding learning disabilities etiology and how to deal with them.
In this article we will discuss about developmental disorders which affect to language, learning and cognition. These include those affecting to language, arithmetic, reading, motor skills, attention and also social interaction. All these disorders have serious consequences for education, and thereafter for well-being in adulthood.

Specific Learning Difficulties VS General Learning Difficulties

It´s important to make a difference between specific learning difficulty and general learning difficulties; general learning difficulties involve difficulties acquiring a wide range of skills, a specific learning difficulty involves a restricted domain. IQ tests, let us know if the child has an average IQ scores (more often in children with specific LD) or scores below 70 (more often in cases of general LD). However the distinction is probably much more complex.

We work with DN-CAS (Das-Naglieri Cognitive Assessment System) which offers a lot of information about the cognitive functioning in children and adolescents focus on processes (panning, attention, simultaneous, successive); it offers an individual profile of strengths and weaknesses in learning, very useful while designing the intervention.

DSM-V considers SLD to be a type of Neurodevelopmental Disorder that impedes the ability to learn or use specific academic skills (writing, reading or arithmetic), which is the foundation for other academic learning. Neurodevelopmental Disorders also include intellectual disabilities, communication disorders, autism spectrum disorders, ADHD and motor disorders. Sigue leyendo →

febrero 9, 2015
de Lorena Álvarez 1 comentario

Language Disorders and ADHD

Children with ADHD are likely to have trouble at school, not just because they have a hard time paying attention, but because they also need good communication skills in the classroom.

Children with ADHD struggle more with language comprehension than children with reading and writing disorders.

These kids, have also problems using the language in social contexts. It means they are sometimes aware that «something is wrong» with them. It´s very frustrating.

What makes the ADHD child with a language problem different to other children? – Language processing difficulties.

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diciembre 1, 2014
de Lorena Álvarez Deja un comentario

Mathematics & Cognition

There has been less research into the nature and causes of mathematical difficulties in comparison to some other disorders like reading or coordination disorders. Like in another cases, we have an example of a specific difficulty in acquiring a critical educational skill. The typical developmental pattern for mathematical skills is very complex and hard to understand. We call “dyscalculia” to the impairment of calculation and “acalculia” to the inability to perform calculation (both of them are typical in adult neurology after some damage in the brain).
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV, APA) defines mathematics disorders as “the mathematical ability measured by individually administrated standardized tests is substantially below that expected, taking in account the chronological age, measure of intelligence and age-appropriate education”. Sigue leyendo →