Massey Documents by Type

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/294

Browse

Subject: search.filters.subject.Neuropsychological tests for children

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Neuropsychological functioning and pesticide exposure in children aged 6-11 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2018) Brinkmann, Yanis
    Pesticide exposure has been linked with numerous health concerns in both adults and children, including problems with cognition and behaviour. Research in this area is complicated by different pesticide exposure profiles across different countries, and results may not generalise to a New Zealand context. The current study aimed to investigate the effects of pesticide exposure in New Zealand children. It extended previous research by studying more cognitive domains, thus providing a more thorough understanding of effects on cognitive functioning. Four hundred and forty three children from the Wellington and Hawkes Bay regions were assessed using subtests from the NEPSY-II, WISC-IV and TEA-Ch. Pesticide exposure was measured using questionnaire and dust sample data which served as proxies for both pre- and post-natal exposure. Prenatal exposure was found to be significantly associated with lower memory scores, while postnatal exposure was associated with lower scores in working memory, facial memory and executive functioning. No effects were found for attention, motor speed, processing speed, verbal memory, and social perception. These results suggest the presence of effects of pesticide exposure on some aspects of child neuropsychological development in New Zealand. While the results are based on initial analyses, and are thus preliminary, the thesis will contribute to a larger project looking at pesticides and public health, and provide important information for regulators around public safety in the future.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Neuropsychological assessment in middle childhood : objective and subjective assessment of executive and social functioning : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2017) McLennan, Kathryn Marie
    This thesis presents a research study that aimed to explore measurement issues in child neuropsychological assessment, within a NZ cultural context. Neuropsychological assessment tools should be developmentally and culturally appropriate, yet most measures used with NZ children have not been evaluated with this population. Further, both subjective and objective assessment tools have been developed, but it is unclear how information gained from these assessment tools relate to each other and inform clinical practice. Child neuropsychology has undergone many changes in recent years. With an increasing understanding of autism spectrum disorders, new domains of functioning have been introduced in neuropsychological assessment instruments, notably, executive functioning (EF), theory of mind (ToM), and affect recognition (AR). Numerous similarities have been documented between these constructs however, making interpretation of assessment results complex. Though these constructs are thought to develop across middle childhood, this population is vastly understudied. This thesis aimed to evaluate patterns of performance on the BASC-2, BRIEF and NEPSY-II measures with NZ school-aged children. Normative data for these measures is not available for NZ children, therefore this research aimed to evaluate the suitability of test norms for this demographic. Further, the thesis aimed to explore the relationship between parent and teacher reports of function and evaluate how subjective (broadband and narrowband) and objective measures of EF, ToM and AR are related. Participants were 241 children from schools within the Wellington and Hawke’s Bay regions, recruited as part of a larger study. Ratings on the BASC-2 and BRIEF measures differed substantially from American norms, with parents and teachers tending to report fewer problem behaviours and more adaptive behaviours than their American counterparts. Results indicated a discrepancy between parent and teacher reports, and between the information gained from subjective versus objective measures. The results of this research have important clinical implications not just for the use and interpretation of these measures, but also for the neuropsychological assessment of EF, ToM and AR in NZ children.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Initial development of a neuropsychological screening measure for school children : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2003) Reimann, Andrea Susanna
    The present study developed a pilot neuropsychological screening measure, called the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status for Children (RBANS-C) which is designed to be used with children between five and ten years of age. This pilot measure was trialled on a sample of 30 New Zealand primary school children to evaluate its screening ability for children. It is based on the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) which is used to screen adults for neurocognitive deficits. Like the RBANS, the RBANS-C is made up of a battery of subtests that assess five cognitive domains, including attention, immediate and delayed memory, visuospatial/constructional abilities and language. Some of the subtests of the RBANS-C were altered to be more suitable for children while others were left the same as in the RBANS. The results from the pilot tryout indicated that some subtests have adequate psychometric properties while others do not. This is most likely due to the small sample size and to a lack of some research controls as well as to inadequacies of some of the subtests. Nevertheless, the results suggest that the RBANS-C seems to identify children with cognitive difficulties, and to some extent isolate those difficulties. No significant sex differences but some considerable age variations were observed since the measure lacks any adjustments for age effects which further improvements of the RBANS-C should incorporate. Also, future research on the RBANS-C will need to develop an alternative form and make necessary modifications to make the RBANS-C an effective neuropsychological screening tool for school children.