Assessing learning potential in patients with brain injury: dynamic assessment

Abstract

Currently, no clearly defined or accepted definition or model of dynamic assessment exists. Consequently, the present research provides a definitional model that can be used with adults. All participants included males and females between the ages of 18 and 55 with mild to moderate cognitive impairments due to head injury. Experiment 1 was conducted to illustrate the difference between static (N = 20), and dynamic (N = 20), assessment groups. Immediate and delayed recall performance, on the Wechsler Memory Scale — Revised Logical Memory and Visual Reproduction subtests, was compared. Experiment 2 investigated whether participants who demonstrate learning over trials and demonstrate the use of organizational strategies, without the benefit of instruction, illustrate improved delayed recall relative to those who do not. Sixty-four participants' learning potential and instruction potential were assessed using the Buschke Selective Reminding Test. Experiment 3 assessed the ecological validity of the three tenets of dynamic assessment, including measurement of learning potential, intervention potential, and transfer potential. The experiment assessed neuropsychological functioning differences in 26 participants, based on whether they exhibited learning potential, learning and instruction potential, or learning, instruction, and transfer potential.