O presente estudo teve por objetivo avaliar aspectos do funcionamento cognitivo, dentro de uma abordagem de avaliação assistida, de crianças encaminhadas a serviços de Psicologia, com queixa de dificuldade de aprendizagem escolar e classificadas como deficientes mentais leves. Foram avaliadas 29 crianças de 8 a 11 anos de 1ª a 3ª série, com tarefas de perguntas de busca de informação com exclusão de alternativas e de raciocínio analógico. Seguiu-se um delineamento em fases: inicial sem ajuda, assistência, manutenção e transferência. Com base nos indicadores de desempenho de cada tarefa, realizou-se uma análise comparativa do desempenho dos sujeitos nas diferentes fases. Foram detectadas variações de sinais de recursos potenciais entre as crianças, classificando-as em: ganhadoras, subgrupo predominante, alto-escores e não-ganhadoras. Analisaram-se as operações cognitivas apresentadas na resolução das tarefas e os comportamentos da criança em relação à tarefa. Em um grupo relativamente homogêneo quanto à classificação psicométrica do nível mental, a avaliação assistida permitiu identificar variação intragrupo diferenciando crianças que não apresentavam eficiência na solução de problemas, requeriam muita ajuda da examinadora e não mantinham o desempenho após a suspensão da assistência, daquelas eficientes e transferidoras, que apresentavam operações cognitivas positivas na resolução das tarefas, do tipo conduta reflexiva, percepção clara, conduta comparativa, percepção integrativa, identificação de relevância, encadeamento lógico das questões e autocorreção. Quanto ao comportamento na tarefa, de modo geral, os sujeitos apresentavam comportamentos positivos, do tipo sossegado, rápido, interessado, participativo, orientado, persistente, cuidadoso com o material, disposição e concentração na realização das tarefas. / The present study had the aim of assessing aspects of cognitive functioning, in an assisted assessment approach, of children that were sent to psychological services with school learning disability complaint and classified as mild mental deficient. It was assessed 29 children ranging from 8 to 11 years old from first to third grade, with constraint-seeking questions with exclusion of alternatives and analogical thinking tasks. It was followed design by phases: initial phase without help, assistance, maintenance and transference. Based on the indicators of each task, it was realized a comparative analysis of the performance of the subjects in the different phases. It was detected variations of signs of potential recourses among the children, classifying them in: ?gainers?, predominant sub-group; ?high scorers? and ?nongainers?. It was also analyzed the cognitive operations presented in the resolution of the tasks and the behavior of the child in relation to the task. In one group relatively homogenized according to the psychometric classification of the mental level of the mental deficiency, the assisted assessment permitted to identify variation intra-group differing children that didn?t show efficiency in the problems solution, required much help and didn?t keep the performance after its suspension, from those ones efficient and transferor, which presented positive cognitive operations in the resolution of the tasks like: reflexive conduct, clear perception, comparative conduct, integrative perception, identification of relevance, logical enchainment of the questions and self correction. In general, the subjects presented positive behavior like: calm, fast, interested, participative, oriented, persistent, careful with the material, disposition and concentration in relation to the tasks.

O presente estudo teve por objetivo avaliar aspectos do funcionamento cognitivo, dentro de uma abordagem de avaliação assistida, de crianças encaminhadas a serviços de Psicologia, com queixa de dificuldade de aprendizagem escolar e classificadas como deficientes mentais leves. Foram avaliadas 29 crianças de 8 a 11 anos de 1ª a 3ª série, com tarefas de perguntas de busca de informação com exclusão de alternativas e de raciocínio analógico. Seguiu-se um delineamento em fases: inicial sem ajuda, assistência, manutenção e transferência. Com base nos indicadores de desempenho de cada tarefa, realizou-se uma análise comparativa do desempenho dos sujeitos nas diferentes fases. Foram detectadas variações de sinais de recursos potenciais entre as crianças, classificando-as em: ganhadoras, subgrupo predominante, alto-escores e não-ganhadoras. Analisaram-se as operações cognitivas apresentadas na resolução das tarefas e os comportamentos da criança em relação à tarefa. Em um grupo relativamente homogêneo quanto à classificação psicométrica do nível mental, a avaliação assistida permitiu identificar variação intragrupo diferenciando crianças que não apresentavam eficiência na solução de problemas, requeriam muita ajuda da examinadora e não mantinham o desempenho após a suspensão da assistência, daquelas eficientes e transferidoras, que apresentavam operações cognitivas positivas na resolução das tarefas, do tipo conduta reflexiva, percepção clara, conduta comparativa, percepção integrativa, identificação de relevância, encadeamento lógico das questões e autocorreção. Quanto ao comportamento na tarefa, de modo geral, os sujeitos apresentavam comportamentos positivos, do tipo sossegado, rápido, interessado, participativo, orientado, persistente, cuidadoso com o material, disposição e concentração na realização das tarefas. / The present study had the aim of assessing aspects of cognitive functioning, in an assisted assessment approach, of children that were sent to psychological services with school learning disability complaint and classified as mild mental deficient. It was assessed 29 children ranging from 8 to 11 years old from first to third grade, with constraint-seeking questions with exclusion of alternatives and analogical thinking tasks. It was followed design by phases: initial phase without help, assistance, maintenance and transference. Based on the indicators of each task, it was realized a comparative analysis of the performance of the subjects in the different phases. It was detected variations of signs of potential recourses among the children, classifying them in: ?gainers?, predominant sub-group; ?high scorers? and ?nongainers?. It was also analyzed the cognitive operations presented in the resolution of the tasks and the behavior of the child in relation to the task. In one group relatively homogenized according to the psychometric classification of the mental level of the mental deficiency, the assisted assessment permitted to identify variation intra-group differing children that didn?t show efficiency in the problems solution, required much help and didn?t keep the performance after its suspension, from those ones efficient and transferor, which presented positive cognitive operations in the resolution of the tasks like: reflexive conduct, clear perception, comparative conduct, integrative perception, identification of relevance, logical enchainment of the questions and self correction. In general, the subjects presented positive behavior like: calm, fast, interested, participative, oriented, persistent, careful with the material, disposition and concentration in relation to the tasks.

Despite considerable debate surrounding an age associated cognitive decline in non-demented elders, recent studies indicate that changes attributable to normal aging affect cognitive processes and fluid abilities. Additionally, studies indicate that factors such as physical illness, depression, neurological damage, medication side effects, drug interactions, and the effects of surgery and anesthesia may also cause varying degrees of cognitive impairment. Impairment of cognitive function is known to affect treatment and rehabilitation outcomes for older persons, and increase their likelihood of institutionalization. Although proper screening and identification of cognitive deficits in geriatric patients are crucial in developing treatment plans, there is evidence in the medical and nursing literature that cognitive decline in older non-demented patients is often not identified. Proper screening in this case, refers not only to whether or not clinicians engage in assessment behavior, but that they adhere to evidence-based practices and utilize standardized instruments which can identify the type, extent, and implications of the cognitive deficits. This study used an exploratory, non-experimental design and the population of interest consisted of occupational therapists providing physical rehabilitation to patients >65 years of age in the United States. The Ecological Systems Model was chosen as the theoretical framework, because it depicts human behavior as the product of the interaction between the individual's personal attributes and the physical and social environment in which the individual functions. Given the changes in health care, and the limits imposed by third party payers, it would seem important to inquire as to the effect of personal and practice contexts on therapists' assessment practices in geriatric rehabilitation. Although results of the study indicate that factors in the practice context are stronger predictors of therapists' use of standardized cognitive screening and assessment instruments, the study supports principles of Ecological Systems Models in that both practice and personal contexts contribute to therapists' assessment practices.

The aim of this work is to introduce a new assessment method of children's cognitive abilities, the Cognitive Assessment System 2, to examine its criterion concurrent validity in a population of children with special educational needs and analyze the test profiles of these children. In the theoretical part of the work various assessment tools of children's cognitive abilities are presented. The Cognitive Assessment System 2 is also introduced. In the empirical part concurrent criterion validity of the CAS2 is examined via the correlation between the results of CAS2 and the results of other commonly used intelligence tests - it is examined on a sample of children with specific learning disabilities and children with below- average intelligence or mental retardation. The test profiles of children from both groups are analyzed. It was found that the overall scores in the method CAS2 highly correlate with total scores of the WISC-III in a group of children with a below-average intelligence and mental retardation, and with total scores of the WISC-III or the K-ABC in a group of children with specific learning disabilities. This is considered as evidence of the concurrent criterion validity of the CAS2. It was found that the children with a below-average intellect and mental retardation have balanced...

The Internet of Things (IoT) provides smart solutions for future urban communities to address key benefits with the least human intercession. A smart home offers the necessary capabilities to promote efficiency and sustainability to a resident with their healthcare-related, social, and emotional needs. In particular, it provides an opportunity to assess the functional health ability of the elderly or individuals with cognitive impairment in performing daily life activities. This work proposes an approach named Cognitive Assessment of Smart Home Resident (CA-SHR) to measure the ability of smart home residents in executing simple to complex activities of daily living using pre-defined scores assigned by a neuropsychologist. CA-SHR also measures the quality of tasks performed by the participants using supervised classification. Furthermore, CA-SHR provides a temporal feature analysis to estimate if the temporal features help to detect impaired individuals effectively. The goal of this study is to detect cognitively impaired individuals in their early stages. CA-SHR assess the health condition of individuals through significant features and improving the representation of dementia patients. For the classification of individuals into healthy, Mild Cognitive Impaired (MCI), and dementia categories, we use ensemble AdaBoost. This results in improving the reliability of the CA-SHR through the correct assignment of labels to the smart home resident compared with existing techniques.

This study presented the past, current, and proposed practice of intelligence testing with a unique population, students identified as deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH). As a basis for describing the cognitive ability of Utah's D/HH students and to improve practice guidelines, 61 D/HH students served by Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind (USDB) were administered the Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test (UNIT) standard battery and the Perceptual Reasoning Index (PRI) subtests from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV). Based on these data, composite score distributions were described and compared with national standardization samples. Participants' WISC-IV PRI scores are summarized with the following descriptive statistics: M = 88.95, 11.05 points below the standardization sample's mean; SD = 14.55; skew = -.74; and SE = .31. Comparing the USDB D/HH sample's WISC-IV PRI scores with the WISC-IV standardization sample's distribution of scores, the participants' scores were significantly lower (two-tailed p-value of <.0001). Participants' UNIT Standard Battery Composite scores are summarized with the following descriptive statistics: M = 90.74, 9.26 points less than the standardization sample's mean; SD = 13.97; skew = -.55; and SE = .31. Comparing this sample's UNIT composite scores with the standardization sample, the participants' scores were significantly lower (two-tailed p-value of <.0001). Additionally, a Pearson correlation compared each participant's scores on the WISC-IV PRI with the corresponding score on the UNIT Standard Battery Composite, yielding a correlation coefficient of .75 with a two-tailed p-value < .0001. Recommendations for future guidelines regarding cognitive assessment of Utah's D/HH students are presented. In particular, this research supported administering the UNIT rather than the WISC-IV. Though no assessment is language free, the UNIT's administration uses simple gestures for directions, rather than spoken language. Additionally, D/HH students were included in the standardization sample. Furthermore, administering one assessment, rather than several, consumes less time for the examiner and the student, saving money and decreasing student time away from classroom instruction.

The simultaneous and successive cognitive processes of students with and without LD were investigated. 51 middle school students with and without learning disabilities in grades 7 and 8 were selected for the study. Based on reading performance on the WIAT-II reading decoding subtest, students were assigned to one of three research groups: Learning disabilities (LDB), students without learning disabilities who are below average readers (NLDB), and students without learning disabilities who are average readers (NLDA). The Das-Naglieri Cognitive Assessment System (DNCAS) was administered to all students to determine simultaneous and successive processing proficiency. Independent samples t-tests were conducted to determine processing differences between LDB and NLDA; LDB and NLDB; and NLDB and NLDA. Significant simultaneous and successive cognitive processing differences between LDB and NLDB were not found. These results appear consistent with the existing literature, and call into question the effectiveness of the current definition of LD to discriminate between LD and non-LD students.

Text in Afrikaans / Hierdie studie ondersoek die moontlikheid dat aandagtekort versteuring met hiperaktiwiteit(ATHV/H) verband hou met probleme met voortgesette aandag, terwyl aandagtekort versteuring sander hiperaktiwiteit(ATHV/SO) verband hou met probleme met gefokusde aandag. Neurosielkundige toetse waarmee voortgesette- en gefokusde aandag gemeet word, word gebruik om drie groepe, naamlik ATHV/H(n=24), ATHV/SO(n=l5) en 'n kontrole groep(n=21), met mekaar te vergelyk. Resul tate dui daarop dat die groep ATHV/SO beduidend swakker presteer as die ander twee groepe op sommige van die toetse van gefokusde aandag, en ook neig om swakker te presteer op die toets van voortgesette aandag. Die groep ATHV/SO se probleme blyk gekoppel te wees aan 'n stadiger spoed van kognitiewe prosessering en 'n toestand van hipoopwekking. Die groep ATHV/H presteer nie beduidend swakker as die ander twee groepe op die toets van voortgesette aandag nie, maar presteer wel swakker as die kontrole groep op die Stroop Colour-Word Test waar inhibisie van ontoepaslike response vereis word. Die groep ATHV /H se probleme blyk verband te hou met frontale disfunksie wat manifesteer as 'n neighing tot impulsiwiteit en gebrekkige gedragsregulering. / This study examined the possibility that attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity(ADHD/H) is related to problems with sustained attention, while attention deficit disorder without hyperactivity (ADHD/WO) is related to problems with focussed attention. The performance of three groups: ADHD/H (n=24), ADHD/WO(n=15) and a control group(n=21) were compared. Results indicated that the ADHD/WO group performed significantly poorer than the other two groups on some of the tests of focussed attention and also tended to perform poorer on the test assessing sustained attention. This groups' symtoms appear to be related to a slowed speed of processing and a state of hypo-arousal. The ADHD/H group did not perform poorer than the other two groups on the test assessing sustained attention. The ADHD/H groups' symptoms appear to be related to frontal dysfunction resulting in impulsivity and poor behavioural control. / Psychology / M.A. (Sielkunde)

This thesis deals with the neuropsychological diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. The aim is to evaluate the psychometric characteristics ofthe new Czech translation of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) by comparison with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), a method widely used by doctors inscreening diagnostics of Alzheimer's disease. The theoretical part deals with the diagnostics of Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment. We describe international diagnostic criteria of cognitive disorders and provide an overview of the screening neuropsychological methods most commonly used by Czech specialists. We summarize the current psychometric and psychodiagnostic findings on these methods and focuse on description of MMSE and MoCA. In the empirical part we compare Czech version of MMSE and MoCA-CZ (the new Czech translation of the test). We examined 38 patients with Alzheimer's disease and 70 cognitively healthy seniors. The results show that MoCA-CZ is sufficiently valid and reliable screening method that accurately distinguishbetween healthy subjects and patiens with Alzheimer's disease. We believe that it can enrich screening tools that are available to Czech experts. Key words: Montreal Cognitive Assessment, Mini-Mental State Examination, Alzheimer's disease, psychodiagnostics,...

The thesis discusses screening psychodiagnostics with special attention given to amnestic mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. The theoretical part describes the concepts of healthy aging and the disorders of cognitive functions. It provides an overview of the screening methods most frequently used in the Czech Republic and the description of MoCA test. It also briefly outlines the issues of retesting in psychodiagnostics. The objective of the empirical part of the work was to verify the psychometric characteristics of the Czech alternative version MoCA-CZ and to evaluate whether it is possible to use this test in practice. The evaluation also includes a comparison of the new version with the already established standard version of MoCA-CZ test. We assigned standard and alternative versions of MoCA-CZ in a 2-month interval to 59 healthy volunteers, 35 patients with mild cognitive impairment and 41 patients with dementia resulting from Alzheimer's disease. We found a strong correlation between alternative and standard version of MoCA-CZ test. We confirmed statistically significant differences in the average scores between individual research groups in both versions of the test. We proved that the alternative version MoCA-CZ 2 is reliable. And we demonstrated that the administration and...