Short description of project
This project will consist of a normative study on a battery of cognitive tasks on a sample of Cantonese-speaking children and adolescents. The project will use the NEPSY-II, a cognitive test battery published in the United States that uses paper and pencil tasks and related measures, to evaluate various cognitive skills such as attention, memory, visual perceptual skills, language, motor abilities, and social perception. The NEPSY-II has been successfully translated into other language such as Afrikaans and Finnish. The utility of the test battery lies in its ability to predict future cognitive, academic, and behavioral problems in children and adolescents. That is, many developmental disorders such as dyslexia (e.g., a developmental difficulty in reading) are associated with specific patterns of cognitive impairment; cognitive impairment that in some cases can be detected long before the actual developmental disorder is diagnosed. Further, while it is a relatively new instrument, the original edition has been used in approximately 100 research studies, indicating that this test battery has both clinical and research utility.
The current project will use back translation procedures, and pilot studies to determine what specific components of the NEPSY-II are appropriate for use in Macao SAR. After translation is complete, graduate students will administer the relevant task components to a select group of male and female children and adolescents. The study will seek to collect 20 male and 20 female participants from 6 to 16 years of age, subdivided by one year increments, with two year increments from 7 to 12 years of age, subdivided by one year increments. Exclusionary criteria for the study will include neurological dysfunction, psychiatric illness or significant learning disability; however, data on such participants will be collected and separated into a ‘clinical’ sample. The resulting test data will be coded using non-identifying information, to obtain normative data in each age group. Data will be analyzed to provide mean and standard deviations in each age group and gender category, and tests of normality will be used to determine if additional scores can be obtained (i.e., percentiles, standard scores).
The current project will use back translation procedures, and pilot studies to determine what specific components of the NEPSY-II are appropriate for use in Macao SAR. After translation is complete, graduate students will administer the relevant task components to a select group of male and female children and adolescents. The study will seek to collect 20 male and 20 female participants from 6 to 16 years of age, subdivided by one year increments, with two year increments from 7 to 12 years of age, subdivided by one year increments. Exclusionary criteria for the study will include neurological dysfunction, psychiatric illness or significant learning disability; however, data on such participants will be collected and separated into a ‘clinical’ sample. The resulting test data will be coded using non-identifying information, to obtain normative data in each age group. Data will be analyzed to provide mean and standard deviations in each age group and gender category, and tests of normality will be used to determine if additional scores can be obtained (i.e., percentiles, standard scores).
Information of Offered Internship
Level of Internship Hours per Month
Level 1 - 40 hours
Commencement Month
March
Duration
6 Months
Internship requirements: i.e. work, practice and training
1. Interns will assist graduate students in scoring neuropsychological protocols.
2. Interns will assist graduate students in entering data in databases.
3. Interns will participate in research meetings.
4. Interns may observe neuropsychological assessment procedures performed by graduate students.
2. Interns will assist graduate students in entering data in databases.
3. Interns will participate in research meetings.
4. Interns may observe neuropsychological assessment procedures performed by graduate students.