Is your child moving from grade two to grade three? Is he unable to learn even a short poem? Does he write with errors, and the entire notebook is filled with red corrections?
If you spend the whole evening doing homework, and the next day your child again gets a D or a C, this does not mean that he is incapable of learning or is pathologically lazy. Most often, the reason lies in the insufficient formation of higher mental functions and immaturity of brain structures. A specialist called a neuropsychologist will help the child in this situation.
Who is a neuropsychologist
Neuropsychology studies the influence of the state of the brain on human behavior and mental capabilities.
For example, if a child is distracted in class and runs around like crazy during recess, the problem is not always in upbringing. Sometimes a baby cannot behave differently due to underdeveloped areas of the brain.
A neuropsychologist, with the help of physical exercises and games, “pulls up” brain development and helps a young patient gain the attention, memory and perseverance required by age. Most often his clients are children from 4 to 12 years old. Like, after that it’s too late to fix something.
But there are neuropsychologists for adults who help cope with the consequences of serious injuries. For example, to restore former brain activity after a stroke.
Neuropsychologist is a promising profession for a psychologist
In what cases should you contact a pediatric neuropsychologist?
Most often, functional immaturity of brain structures in a neurologically healthy child manifests itself in the following situations:
- an age crisis sets in;
- education begins in kindergarten, school;
- mental or emotional stress increases sharply.
The situation is aggravated by stress or a difficult life situation, for example, parental divorce, loss of a close relative, moving to another city, etc. Functional immaturity of brain structures often occurs due to the fact that children at an early age are overloaded with “developmental activities.” It happens that a three-year-old toddler goes to Chinese, and to music, and to the theater. The result is the same thing that happens when a high-rise building is built on a weak foundation: it collapses.
Parents are surprised why a child who is formally fully ready for learning, that is, able to read, count, and write, begins to behave badly, receive unsatisfactory grades, and experiences difficulties in being in a group. Most parents begin to turn to tutors for help or punish their child, when in fact the real reason lies not in the child’s laziness, but in the lack of a solid “foundation” for successful learning.
It is necessary to show the child to a pediatric neuropsychologist in the following cases:
- the baby cannot control himself, “does not hear” the comments of adults;
- his behavior is explosive, impulsive;
- he is characterized by hyperactivity or excessive slowness;
- poorly coordinates his actions, does not orient himself in space, and over the age of 6 years does not know where right and left are;
- The child has illegible handwriting, he confuses the spelling of similar letters, mixes unvoiced and voiced sounds, writes “mirror”;
- cannot identify the main features of an object: color, size, weight, shape, purpose);
- he doesn’t remember the material well, and therefore studying is difficult for him;
- he is not able to independently complete a task in class or at home;
- the child gets tired quickly, is easily distracted, has difficulty concentrating on a task;
- he “does not see” the line, does not understand the simplest formulations of tasks, does not know how to perform actions according to a given algorithm;
- has difficulty mastering reading, writing, and counting.
In addition, the help of a neuropsychologist is necessary if the child has been studying with a speech therapist for a long time with practically zero results, or if he has a developmental delay - mental, speech, mental, psycho-speech.
How does a neuropsychologist differ from other specialists?
Can you tell right off the bat what is the difference between a psychologist, a clinical psychologist, a psychotherapist, a psychiatrist, a defectologist, and a neuropsychologist? Let's try to figure it out. To begin with, let's divide professions into two large groups: doctors and... non-doctors.
Doctors
The first category includes psychiatrists and psychotherapists.
A psychiatrist treats or stabilizes patients with severe mental conditions. In such cases it is too late to talk and exhort; medications are used.
The psychotherapist is a borderline specialist. This is a psychiatrist who has undergone additional training in psychology. He can prescribe medicine for a patient and cure with a word. It turns out that it is not always too late to treat serious conditions with words; complex therapy can be more effective.
Not doctors
The second group are humanitarian specialists or educational psychologists.
A psychologist works with healthy people. He will listen, help find the cause of the conflict or quarrel, and advise where to look for a solution. It does not work with mental disorders.
A clinical psychologist is also not yet a doctor, although he practices in medical institutions. He cannot prescribe medications or make medical diagnoses, he simply works with slightly more severe cases than a psychologist.
A defectologist helps to cope with defects in mental functions; his area of responsibility is mainly children, although there are also adult clients. The speech pathologist has educational exercises and games in his arsenal. If a function cannot be completely restored, a way is sought to replace the missing skill. For example, if you can’t read, we’ll listen.
A neuropsychologist works with the same defects, but looks for their cause in the corresponding areas of the brain... Well, we have already written about this above. In short, a neuropsychologist is also not a doctor, although this pedagogical specialty borders on medicine.
Neuropsychological correction
Neuropsychological correction is of a purely individual nature. The training regimen is selected after a thorough diagnosis and detailed study of the results obtained.
Systematic sessions with a pediatric neuropsychologist make it possible to influence the development of the baby.
Through games, a set of motor exercises and a specially structured course of classes, the active development of higher mental functions occurs. Over time, the child gains the ability to control mental activity, his visual and auditory perception is formed, and previously identified disorders of mental functions are corrected. It is important to follow all the neuropsychologist’s instructions and work with the child at home, because this will not only help to achieve faster results, but will also strengthen trusting relationships in the family.
How to become a neuropsychologist
There is no specialty “Neuropsychology” in our education system. To get this profession, you will first have to train as a psychologist or clinical psychologist... You can even become a psychiatrist, but this is a medical education, so it will take much longer. And after that you will need to undergo a continuing education program.
For example, the necessary program is available at the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University. They are accepted there with higher psychological, pedagogical or medical education. That is, there are a lot of opportunities to become a neuropsychologist. The training lasts only 4.5 months and costs 40,000 rubles.
Training in neuropsychology at the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University
And at the psychological and pedagogical university everything looks even more serious: they hire only psychologists, teach for 10 months and charge 100 thousand rubles for it.
Just don’t expect that training will be limited to a couple of months. A good specialist studies constantly, all in the name of qualified assistance to clients!
What age is considered appropriate to visit a neuropsychologist?
The level of sensorimotor development of a child can be assessed as early as 40 days after birth. Parents, by carefully observing the baby, can evaluate it themselves. If a child cannot perform the range of movements typical for his age, parents begin to worry. But the early maturation of the baby, on the contrary, pleases them. And hardly any mother knows that early speech, for example, can lead to immaturity in the emotional sphere of a little person. It is important to monitor whether there are any distortions in the child’s development - which is what a neuropsychologist does.
The optimal age for contacting a specialist is 5 years. There is a year left before school, it’s time to decide on the leading hand, assess the child’s level of development, and predict what difficulties he will encounter during his studies.
Specialists at our Center have noticed that the second wave of visits to neuropsychologists occurs among children aged 8–9 years. They move to the third grade, the teachers' requirements become more stringent, and real grades are given for their studies. Some children have difficulty adapting to the new reality and need help. Classes with a neuropsychologist for school-age children are needed to improve memory, overcome difficulties with writing, correct speech perception, etc.
In general, neuropsychological correction of developmental disorders in children is effective at the age of 3–12 years. During this period, brain structures are at the stage of formation. The older the child, the more habitual stereotypes there are in his behavior. Classes with a neuropsychologist are especially important for children of this age, since uncorrected disorders will negatively affect their adult life.
Methods and approaches in the work of a pediatric neuropsychologist
Modern neuropsychology has in its arsenal various methods of work (for example, the Tomatis method), but an integrated approach is more often used. Depending on the need and effectiveness of the training, one or more methods play a leading role.
At the initial stage, the method of replacement ontogenesis prevails
Work using this method often occupies a significant place in the correctional activities of a neuropsychologist. Its essence is to, through certain motor activity, enable immature areas of the brain to go through the necessary development path.
The opportunity given to the body to “live” the period of early development again helps to correctly establish the functioning of the necessary neural connections and ensure the future functioning of higher mental activity. It is this period that is the basis for the development of a child’s visual-motor orientation, self-control, spatial perception, attention, and thinking.
The tasks are based on the principle of body-oriented exercises. This may include massage, certain types of physical movements, and group outdoor games.
The next stage involves cognitive correction
It is also dominated by body-oriented games and exercises, but the work is carried out in a slightly different direction. In addition, tasks using cards, workbooks, and didactic games are also used.
The base has been created, now it is time to form the necessary mental functions. During the period of time when the foundation had not yet been formed, backlogs in the development of HPS managed to form. Cognitive correction is designed to eliminate this deficiency.
In the process of work, the volume of visual information is expanded, interhemispheric connections, gnostic functions, thinking, memory, and auditory perception are developed. The classes use games with movements, drawing and working with both hands at the same time, exercises for tactile sensations (recognition of figures, numbers and letters “drawn” on the back or palm with the teacher’s finger).
Various didactic communication games encourage the development of skills such as activity control, self-regulation, voluntary attention and motivation to achieve results.
At the third, final stage, the acquired skills are consolidated
In addition, at this stage of development, great importance is given to the formation of communication skills and adaptive abilities. For a successful life, children must have social skills, communicate, find a common language with others, and be able to find a way out of difficult situations.
In their work, neuropsychologists use various techniques:
- Reliance on safe links. The child’s adaptation is made taking into account his more developed and strong sides.
- Attacking weaknesses. The basis of this method of work is the greatest emphasis on working on less developed functions and stimulating their correct functioning.
- Formative learning. The principle is not based on correcting an immature function (this method is used in the absence of global disorders), but on stimulating the development of a specific skill. According to this method, maximum attention and demand is given to certain activities, which stimulates the child. Training is carried out not on the principle of developing individual skills, but on the perception of the action as a whole.
- Interactive approach method. The leading idea of the method is to increase the child’s motivation to actively work together and achieve results by involving him in the learning process without focusing on lagging areas. At the same time, the teacher gradually transfers more and more of the activity to the child.
- Another interesting method is cerebellar stimulation, exercises on a balancing board. The proven connection between the work of the cerebellum and all parts of the nervous system allows us to stimulate the synchronization of the work of both hemispheres of the brain, improves speech, reading and writing, and corrects the child’s behavior.
Neuropsychological correction allows us to achieve great success, improving the overall development of the child, his educational success and revealing his potential.
Who needs a consultation with a neuropsychologist?
Every child aged 2-12 years would benefit from a neuropsychological assessment. Today, children who exhibit the following symptoms are most often brought to this specialist:
- insufficient development of fine motor skills of the hands;
- general motor clumsiness;
- slurred speech;
- increased mobility (sometimes such children are diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder);
- pathological friendly movements (during drawing or writing, the tongue, legs, and sometimes the whole body “come to life”)
A neuropsychologist will determine the causes of the child’s problems, due to the specific functioning of his brain, and find out which zone of his brain “failed.” The specialist will tell parents about the strengths and weaknesses of the little patient and identify effective ways to solve problems. After all, for example, banal illiteracy in a schoolchild may be a consequence of unstable attention, impaired ability to distinguish sounds by ear, a peculiarity of perception, etc.
Having determined the true cause of this condition, the specialist will give specific recommendations on how to overcome learning difficulties. If the child is a preschooler, then the neuropsychologist will tell you how to prepare the child for school and prevent possible problems, and, if necessary, offer a group or individual correction program (special classes).
Who does a pediatric neuropsychologist work with?
Recently, classes with this specialist for children have become especially relevant. Brain disorders occur due to various reasons, in particular:
- birth injuries;
- fetal hypoxia during pregnancy;
- traumatic brain injuries;
- effects of anesthesia;
- severe illnesses in early childhood.
In addition, unfortunately, the changed social conditions in which modern children grow up have a great influence. Replacing “live” communication with computer communication, reducing the volume of gaming activities, the culture of yard games and spending time with older children, ensuring a logical transfer of skills and knowledge from older to younger.
Sessions with a neuropsychologist are recommended in the presence of many disorders:
- Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
- Delayed mental and (or) speech development.
- Mental disorders on the autism spectrum.
- History of perinatal encephalopathy.
- Stuttering (logoneurosis).
- Speech development disorders.
- Dyslexia or dysgraphia.
- Problems with learning at school.
