Archive for the ‘Psychologist’ Category



All students in special education are required by law to have a complete evaluation every three years to determine eligibility for special education services. The following case study is about a student named “Adam”. Adam is seven years old and has autism. He is in a Special Day Class setting in a public school. The case study includes details of Adam’s three-year educational evaluation.

The student in this case study has autism. His name is Adam. Adam is seven years old. He is in a Special Day Class for Severely Handicapped students. Adam’s 3-year evaluation needed to be completed to determine eligibility for his special education services. Adam has an advocate and parents who are intensely involved with his education. When the assessment plan was presented to the parents, they requested additional assessments including a functional analysis, occupational therapy and an assistive technology assessment. A copy of the signed assessment plan was given to the appropriate specialists: psychologist, occupational therapist, speech therapist, speech therapist, nurse and special education teacher.

The school psychologist observed Adam on several occasions before administering the psycho-educational profile revised (PEP-R). The PEP-R covers a variety of developmental areas. The test items are presented with simple, concrete instructions and most of the expected responses are nonverbal. The PEP-R provides information on developmental functioning in imitation, perception, fine motor, gross motor, eye-hand integration, cognitive performance and cognitive verbal areas. The PEP-R consists of a set of toys and learning materials that were presented to Adam within structured play activities. The psychologist recorded Adam’s responses to the test. His scores were then distributed among seven developmental and four behavioral areas. The resulting profile revealed Adam’s strengths and weaknesses in the different areas of development and behavior.

Adam’s portfolio was used as an assessment tool. Included in his portfolio were work samples, progress reports, behavior reports, notes from parents and daily reports. The teacher sent home daily reports that included performance, compliance and prompt levels on Adam’s tasks and goals/benchmarks. His parents signed and returned the daily reports and became part of his portfolio. The daily reports were used to assist in the assessment of Adam.

The school psychologist also conducted the functional analysis to determine why Adam was exhibiting disruptive behaviors. Questionnaires were sent home for the parents to complete. Screaming and biting were behaviors his parents and teacher were concerned about. The classroom teacher was responsible for collecting data on the behaviors. The psychologist and the teacher created a data collection form. The teacher recorded the occurrence of the undesired behaviors. The information from the parents, psychologist observations and teacher were compiled by the psychologist and the report was written.

The occupational therapist observed Adam, assessed him and wrote a report. The school nurse tested Adam with a special device. She was able to determine that his hearing appeared to be normal. Adam’s parents reported no problems with his vision and hearing. The speech therapist, who worked with him over the past year, also assessed him.

Other tests that can be used to diagnose and assess students with autism are the Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC), Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R), Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) and Pre-Linguistic Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (PL-ADOS). These tests are individual autism assessment instruments that have been specifically designed to assess children with autism. Furthermore, these tests rely on either historical information about the child’s behavior (usually provided by a parent), direct observation of the child by a professional or a combination of these methods.

Adam’s assessment for his 3-year evaluation was extensive and comprehensive. This assessment gave the team information on Adam’s development, behavior, communication, health, coordination and cognitive levels. With this information, the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) team determined that his placement was appropriate. Occupational Therapy (OT) services were recommended. The occupational therapist wrote several goals and will provide services for Adam. The functional analysis concluded that Adam’s undesired behaviors occurred during transitions. The assistive technology assessment revealed that Adam excelled in this area. No recommendations were needed. Although Adam’s assessment was extensive and required hard work for the IEP team, valuable information was provided that assisted the team in making recommendations for Adam’s education. The assessment also revealed that Adam was making great progress in his special day class setting.

Baseball Training – Technology Enhances Equipment

Baseball training has made tremendous strides in recent years due to the technological advances of baseball softball training equipment. As an adjunct to coaching and mentoring, softball baseball training equipment can produce amazing results for hitters and pitchers through repetition and feedback. The Batters Edge™ and the VLM Pitchtracker are the most advanced hitting and pitching products available on the market today.

Baseball Training – Repetition Keys Performance

Muscle memory and skills training are the two major ingredients in successful performance outcomes. We perform functions daily that have been engrained through repetition. For example, piano players utilize skills training and muscle memory acquired through repetitive actions in order to achieve high performance levels. In much the same way, baseball hitting drills and softball hitting drills can effect superb results based on muscle memory and skills training.

Baseball Training – Good Practice Habits Buoy Outcome

As youngsters we are taught by our parents and coaches the basic techniques of baseball training. Parents often engage in hitting drills in baseball with their youngsters, or they may participate in softball hitting drills. In softball/baseball training, repetition keys muscle memory, which is the memory used by the muscle sets involved in a particular activity. In the same way that we adopt a particular penmanship through muscle memory, hitters can develop good technique through repetitive skills training.

Baseball Training – Technology Advances Muscle Memory

Through technological advancement, players of all ages can develop the muscle memory and skills training necessary to excel. Historically, Mom may have been able to provide some softball batting training for her daughter, while Dad worked on softball stride training at the plate. Mentors, however, can assist just so much.

Today, there are baseball training equipment supports that will facilitate softball/baseball training. A-Game Technology has recently developed two baseball training supports that are revolutionizing the way the game is taught.

Baseball Training – The Batter’s Edge™

The Batter’s Edge™ is a revolutionary baseball training product designed to reinforce the proper balance and hip rotation needed to perfect the swing. The Batter’s Edge™ is a platform that embraces the body’s muscle memory to enable hitters to maintain a balanced swing.

Through repetitions, the balanced swing becomes second nature to hitters and, as a result of the augmentation of their muscle memory; the adjustment to live pitching in a game is seamless. The Batter’s Edge™ is a baseball training device that is suitable for players age 8 years and up.

The product is ideal for use in dirt, grass, or artificial surfaces. It can be used in hitting drills in softball and baseball off a tee, from a pitching machine, or in soft toss.

Baseball Training – VLM Pitchtracker

A-Game Technology has brought the art and science of pitching into the 21st Century with the VLM Pitchtracker. Now, pitchers are able to refine their skills through the marriage of modern technology with the development of muscle memory and proper skills training.

Through this cutting edge development designed to enhance pitcher training, pitchers can perfect their release points in order to achieve incredible results. This device tracks the movement, velocity and location of a pitch and it presents the results for coaches, parents, mentors and players for review in a user-friendly visual format.

Pitchers are able to perfect their mechanics and see immediate and remarkable improvements in their ability to throw a pitch where it’s meant to go. Coaches can use the VLM Pitchtracker to analyze multiple pitching factors and to chart progress over a period of time.

Both the Batter’s Edge and the VLM Pitchtracker are available at www.agametechnology.com , and further information on both these amazing baseball training aids can be obtained at the website.

Gone are the days when people used to carry their health records in unwieldy files when visiting a doctor. The advances in technology made it is possible to carry the entire documents in pocket-sized devices like CD-ROMs, pen drives and now on dedicated websites who take the responsibility of saving and updating medical data. To keep a track of our medical history and share and use it when necessary, we need to create a personal health record. Let us try to understand what personal health records can do for us and how can they make our life easy.

A personal health record is the consolidated information related to health; stored and managed by an individual. Today, personal health records are also popularly known as, personal health diary, patient health record, or personal medical records. While the concept of personal health records is not new, it has evolved from a stage when these records were stored by the medical professionals and health care providers; to a stage where each person today is keeping their health records by using various technologies such as websites, personal health software and so on. The primary purpose of personal health records is:

· To keep a track on personal health and

· To help the doctors for providing better care through the valuable health information.

Ideally, a personal health record should contain every single bit of information related to your health. The information stored in your personal health record may differ according to the software or service providers, but any personal health records will contain the crucial health information. Some of the most common parameters that a personal health record contains are as follows:

· Name of the patient, birth date, blood type

· Date of last physical tests or screenings

· Major illnesses or diseases occurred in past with dates

· List of medicines and dosages taken by you

· Allergies and chronic diseases

· History of illnesses in your family

This piece of information can be very important in case of emergencies and can save your life.

Personal health records have numerous benefits not only to the users but also to the health care systems and physicians. A detailed health record can be used by physicians to take important decisions in time of emergencies. Some of the significant benefits of personal health records are as follows:

· Empowering patients: personal health record allows the patients to access, update and verify their own medical records. With the use of personal health records, one can also set reminders for health maintenance services.

· Improves patient-doctors relationship: this is especially true when you have a family doctor or a physician to whom you frequently visits. Doctors find it easy to communicate with patients who own personal health records.

· Improves patient’s safety: As the patient keeps updating their health records, it helps them to identify missed procedures and services, drug alerts, and important test results.

· Delivers efficient care: personal health records also avoid duplicative testing and unwanted or unnecessary services.

· Cost-effective tool: patients can save huge amounts which are otherwise spent unnecessary on malpractice costs.

· Privacy: personal health records can be kept confidential by using passwords. Today, most of us want our health records to be safe and secure in our hands so that no one misuses it. Personal health records allow patients to keep their health documents safe and secured.

The list of benefits of maintaining personal health records is never-ending and personal health records are slowly and steadily becoming a basic necessity to keep ourselves and our beloved ones healthy. After all, a small initiative towards health can reap great rewards. So, step ahead and create your Personal Health Record!!!!