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ANOMIA
- CASE STUDY: FRANK
Frank
is an articulate, highly motivated, engaging 7-year-old second grader.
His is a warm, loving, caring, accepting family, who bend over backward
to enhance their children's self-esteem, while encouraging their
independence and sense of responsibility. Frank was the last person
in the world that anyone would expect to have a reading problem.
During
the course of the kindergarten year his teachers expressed concern
that he seemed to be uninterested in learning the sounds and names
of the letters and preferred playing instead. By the middle of the
first grade, when Frank still had not begun to read he was recommended
for and evaluation by the Committee on Special Education of his
school district. The results of that evaluation confirmed that he
was dyslexic and it was recommended that Resource Room Services
be provided. This year Frank entered the second grade. Progress
had been minimal. His parents in desperation sought a neuropsychological
evaluation in an attempt to clarify the nature and extent of Frank's
deficit so that appropriate remedial measures could be instituted.
Results
of the evaluation confirmed Frank's his parents' feeling that he
was indeed a bright child - his IQ was in the high average range.
Attention, perception, language comprehension, memory and motor
functions were found to be intact. However, Frank presented with
a significant word finding problem, which compromised his ability
to benefit from a traditional programs designed to teach readiness
skills.
The
neuropsychologist consulted with the school and designed a program
designed to utilize Frank's many strengths to enable him to make
the necessary academic gains.
ARTICULATORY-GRAPHOMOTOR
DEFICITS - CASE STUDY WILL
Will
is an intelligent, articulate, ten-year-old fifth grade boy, who
easily mastered beginning reading. Academic difficulties became
apparent in the third grade, when reading, spelling and writing
achievement unexpectedly fell below grade level. Will's teachers
characterized him as a responsible, mature boy, with solid peer
relationships. They were baffled by the seemingly unexplainable
decline in his performance. The family pediatrician, during Will's
annual assessment, joined with school personnel in recommending
testing.
Neuropsychological
test results confirmed Will's superior intellectual ability. In-depth
assessment of language function revealed the residua of a developmentally
based language problem which compromised the acquisition of the
phonic skills necessary for decoding (reading) and encoding (writing)
unfamiliar words. Qualitative assessment of Will's reading revealed
that had adopted the compensatory technique of relying on context
and the recognition of words by sight when reading unfamiliar text.
While this approach had been quite successful in the early grades,
when the material to be read was relatively simple, it no longer
sufficed when he was required to read more complicated text. Guessing
rather than sounding out unfamiliar words began to result in errors
that changed the meaning of the what he was reading and made it
appear as though he didn't understand what he was reading. What
appeared to be a comprehension problem was, in fact, a decoding
problem.
Additional
testing revealed that Will presented with graphomotor discoordination,
i.e., messy writing. The act of writing was an effortful process
for Will, usurping attention away from the mechanics of writing
(spelling, capitalization and punctuation), thereby compounding
his difficulty with written expression.
Once
again, the essential first step, accurate diagnosis, enabled the
prescription of appropriate remedial measures to enable Will to
improve his decoding skill and thus re-establish his sense of self
esteem.
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The
team provides state of-the-art assessment and treatment of attention
and learning problems.
Each
evaluation culminates in a comprehensive written report which integrates
the findings of the multidisciplinary team in a clear and easily
understand manner.
Neuropsychological
assessment is like a window which enables us to obtain a bird's
eye view of the manner in which an individual functions under a
variety of conditions. 
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