CAPP MINI COURSE: APPLICATIONS OF PSYCHODIAGNOSTIC TESTING IN WORKING WITH CHILDREN, PARENTS, AND EDUCATORS

Therapists, would you like to enhance your work with children and parents?

The Westchester Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy Presents

A CAPP MINI COURSE:

APPLICATIONS OF PSYCHODIAGNOSTIC TESTING IN WORKING WITH CHILDREN, PARENTS, AND EDUCATORS

This three-hour mini-course on testing is open to our current candidates and to anyone else in the community who might be interested in learning more about testing and ways it can be used clinically.

Instructor:
Judith T. Moskowitz, Ph.D.

Time and dates: 7pm, February 2, 9, and 23, 2021.
Cost: $75

Zoom

SPACE IS LIMITED!

RSVP to Irene Studwell istudwell@gmail.com
or Jane Bloomgarden jwillbloom@gmail.com

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A neuropsychological evaluation aspires to answer the question: “Who is this child?” It is a process analysis of the cognitive/intellectual, academic, and emotional factors that characterize a child’s functioning. In 9-12 hours (plus the time for intake and feedback), it provides a bird’s eye view that can help a therapist understand intellectual capacity, areas of cognitive strengths and weaknesses, and academic skills and deficits. With projective tests, it also gives a snapshot of ego functioning, defenses, and issues related to anxieties, mood regulation, and social perception. The findings can shorten the introductory phase of treatment, and give the therapist insights that would take months to discover.

This mini course aims to help clinicians understand what testing entails, and how its results can be effectively relayed, and help inform clinical interventions. Viewed as a major intervention (akin to “crisis intervention”), it has the potential to change the narrative, and reframe the way in which a child is viewed – by parents, teachers, and self. A clinical approach is consistently used in relating to both parents and child, and establishing a therapeutic alliance.

Case material will be used to describe a variety of clinical presentations – what they mean, how they can shed light upon the interaction between neurobiological and emotional factors, and how they contribute to development. These factors may also impact parent/child relationships and identification patterns, result in misinterpretations, and possibly derail the acquisition of a child’s positive sense of self. The following are some areas that can be explored: (a) ADHD and executive functioning (b) Impact of language disorders (c) Pseudo-stupidity (d) Mood disorders and emotional dysregulation (e) Early identification of serious psychiatric disorders (f) The adopted child and “the black box”.

Dr. Moskowitz is a neuropsychologist based in Ardsley and a graduate of the Adelphi Program in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy.