Can anybody explain to me what neuropsychology is?

GlasweJen

I did a neuropsychology module as part of my masters and it's to do with relating problems cognitive function problems with abnormal brain anatomy. The brain abnormalities can be inherent or they can be as a result of injury.

ETA that's not very helpful but from what I learned neuropsychologists build computer models to show what's going wrong. I'm not sure what a clinical one would do but I imagine it will involve brain scans, brain function tests etc.

teabag29

shes always been different im afraid, even before the abuse. A paediatrician said she had characteristics of adhd at 3 but too young to diagnose. Her learning has always been poor as has her ability to get on with other childre. She really doesnt know the alphabet and none of it is down to her not wanting to as her marks for effort are always eceptional....infact out of the whole of year 7 last year she got a certificate for the child who put in the most effort. Her memory has come back at age 5 which is prob why she cant remember the alphabet, she can mostly get as far as K but then cant remember. She has no clue about months either.

The reason i was thinking asd is because of her social interaction skills, she has all the signs except the imagination sector as she has a great imagination. She has many issues, she wont bath, clean her teeth or brush her hair, she wont touch or eat anything soft, she rarely drinks and i have to promt her, she hates wearing socks, flaps her hands when excited, cannot get on with kids her own age but gets on great with adults and young kids, can be very poor behaved, has no sense of danger, no empathy at all, takes things very literally (i.e. if i were to say hop it she would hop ), doesnt understand social rules, sarcasm or jokes..... acyually the list is endless but you get the jist.

School say her levels dont warrant a special needs school (shes age 5 memory, 7.4 yrs reading, 7.6 yrs spelling, 6yrs decoding, overall learning 7th percentile) but they have such a high level of sen they wont give her anymore than 1 hours literacy help in a small group of 8 or 9 a day.

daydream_believer

I agree with what Shegirl has said about staementing, my Son has asd and is in a mainstream school with a statement, he is pretty much top of the class academically but struggles socially and has anxieties.
Is her school a local authority school or an academy, in my opinion (older ds on sen register attends one) academies are more interested in their exam results than their students welfare.
My asd son attends a local authority school and they have been fab with him.
Also my son can 'mask' his difficulties at school so i understand what you are saying about school not seeing the whole picture.

I hope your daughter gets the help and support she should already be getting.

fluppydragon

Hi. So sorry to hear about your troubles. Thank goodness you are now getting the attention of the right services.

The neuropsychologist will want to collect some background information from you about your daughter's functioning in everyday life and whether you have particular concerns. They will then assess your daughter's abilities (probably while you wait outside the room) using a wide variety of puzzle-type games, giving them a good picture of her strengths and weaknesses in areas such as memory, attention, flexible thinking etc. This will be helpful for you and other adults who are involved in her life as it will tell you how to help her to learn at school, what to expect she might achieve, and how best to support her.

For example, the clinical psychologist who is referring you will probably work with your daughter on managing her emotions and behaviour. If the neuropsych finds that your daughter has difficulty processing verbal information at speed, the psychologist may use more pictures or role play in the therapy sessions, rather than bombarding her with 'talking'. At school, problems laying down new memories might be helped by offering opportunity for repetition (possibly as homework), and drawing out a scheme of the topic on paper, while attentional difficulties might be helped by a particular seating arrangement away from distraction or the provision of copies of lesson plans so she can rejoin the lesson topic if her mind wanders.

The pattern of strengths and weaknesses (cognitive profile) can help to point to whether there in an underlying issue (you mention that you are concerned about early brain injury or that she may have a particular disorder).

It is likely that the clinical psychologist will be able to offer a session at the school for the staff involved in your daughter's care to feed back strategies for improving her educational and emotional experience. In general, this sort of attention from outside agencies tends to improve matters enormously at school.

Hope that answers your question. I do hope this is all resolved soon.

ShowmetheMoney

I can't help I'm afraid but just wanted to wish you lots of luck. I can't imagine the stress and frustration you must be feeling in trying to get things sorted for her so she can start enjoying life. Hopefully you will get there soon.

obama

Good luck, I hope everything turns out well.
Maybe do a bit of research via google?

Btw, if this thread had Tesco in the title it would have been moved by now.

mucklebones

Have you considered home education? My daughter is starting school next year and although she is extremely likely to get a statement (process has begun) I have told them she will not go without it. And even then if its not tailored to her absolute needs she wont go. She is extremely vunerable and I obviously want to protect her.
I can see by your posts you are desperately seeking answers, which is what us mothers do when we know something isnt right. I really hope you get some soon xx

teabag29

I think its a bit of both shegirl, she has a very poor memory but she can read, just not very well, although as highlighted in the ep report she gets the words and letters muddled i.e. she will read dog as god and alot of words she cant pronounce even when i say them to her for example a word in her book tonight was atmosphere and nomatter how many times i said it to her she kept saying asthma hair (she has been referred to speech and language for this, she also had that when she was younger to). She also does not take in what she is reading so after 2 lines i will ask her whats happened in the book so far and she wont have a clue. She gets very frustrated and her top wishes when asked by the camhs doctor was 1) to be able to get on with kids her age and have friends and 2)to be able to do her work like all the other kids and not find it so hard. She goes to homework club twice a week and also in her lunch hour...she really is trying but she cant keep up in the lessons. The ep report stated she will need significantlly more help than other kids her age and will find it very hard to function in a normal class without more 1 to 1 help and also her tests show that she can learn if she is given more time than most to digest the info and understand it. School have ignored this and say they are meeting her needs

elysia2003

Oh Hun - whatever must you be going through. I send hugs and my very best wishes that something can be sorted to help you out/get the problem dealt with, soon. xxx

fluppydragon

As it took so long to write my last post (between toddler tantrums!) I missed lots of new posts and see you have now given much more information about your daughter's current difficulties.

It is clear that she does require far more significant support at school, and it is not the case that she is too able for this (as the school have suggested). Get the psychs involved as they usually carry a bit of weight.

A difficult situation and very stressful for you. Good for you for persisting in seeking help.