Workshops: 20th October

"The ability to modify brain neuronal activity in vivo and noninvasively, is one of the most exciting recent developments in experimental neuroscience and in neuropsychiatric intervention. The aim of this workshop is to present three non-invasive techniques that allow mapping (EEG / ERP), stimulation/inhibition (TMS) and modulation (TDCS) of neurocognitive function. Participants will be introduced into the basic principles of each of these techniques, and will also provide a practical component with live demonstrations of the use of these tools.

Target audience: Students (Medicine, Psychology or Neuroscience), Researchers and Clinicians (psychiatry, neurology, child & adolescent psychiatry, child-neurology, pediatrics, psychology)."

A child with ADHD requires an intervention planned both in time and throughout time. This intervention should focus on the child's different life contexts. Using specific acommodations in the shoool environment to facilitate adaptation can make a real difference in these children's lives. In this workshop, we will provide specific strategies to make an environment adapted to children with ADHD in the classroom. We will open with a theoretical introduction and then move towards a more practical workshop based on the experience of each participant and using diffrent interactive methods.

Many students with learning and behavior problems have difficulty with expository writing. Techniques known as “self-regulated strategy development” (SRSD) have been developed to help students with their writing skills. These strategies have been proven to result in dramatic gains in a variety of writing outcomes, including improvements in quality and quantity of written work. This presentation – based upon 6 years of recent research -- will focus on techniques for implementing these strategies with students with learning and/or behavioral problems, and applying them to a variety of school writing tasks. Another source of difficulty for many students in school is memory for academic information. To address this problem, mnemonic (memory-enhancing) techniques have been developed and applied. These procedures, including the keyword method, the pegword method, and letter strategies, have resulted in very substantial improvement in the amount of information students are able to remember. This presentation, based upon over 30 years of research, will describe the different types of mnemonic strategies, and how they can be applied successfully to a wide variety of areas of school learning.

A child with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has communication, social interaction and behavior alterations. They also have a different learning profile, leading to the adaptation of teaching strategies. In this workshop, designed for educators and teachers with or without specialization in special education and other professionals working with students with ASD, different strategies for school integration will be discussed.

There is an increasing recognition of the prevalence of ADHD in adulthood, which is estimated to be around one percent in the general population. People with ADHD have often experienced lifelong underachievement; they feel misunderstood and have not received the help they need. Reflecting the growing awareness of this problem, this workshop introduces a cognitive behavioural model of ADHD from which the speaker and her colleague – Dr. Jessica Bramham - developed the Young- Bramham Programme. This is a unique modular framework for assessing and treating people with adulthood ADHD and associated problems using practical intervention techniques. The model is accompanied with materials for use by clients and therapists.

The ASEBA battery (Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment) is one of the most used Psychopathology assessment batteries. The instruments of this battery, developed for the assessement of children and adolescents, includes report questionnaires to be filled out by parents / carers and other teachers / educators. There is still a self-report version for young people from 11 years of age. The assessment of emotional and behavioral problems using this battery enables the identification of these problems from the reports of different informants, as well as the cross-examination and the comparison of the data from the children / adolescents being assessed with the results of a representative sample population, through the use of population-based standards profiles.

The latest versions of five questionnaires for children and adolescents (CBCL 1½-5 and C-TRF to evaluate children between the ages of 18 months and 5 years; CBCL 6-18, 6-18 TRF and YSR for evaluation of children and adolescents between the ages of 6 and 18 years) were translated, adapted and measured for the Portuguese population in a study conducted by the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, which received funding from the Foundation for Science and Technology (ref. PTDC / PSI-PCL / 105489/2008).

It is currently available to be used by psychologists and other professionals working in the mental health setting. Therefore, this workshop is targeted at psychologists and psychology students and aims to present the five tests of the battery, the dimensional evaluation model that supports it, and analyze case studies with the aim to improve the use of information collected with these tests in a clinical context, to support diagnosis, intervention planning and assessment of its effectiveness.

Relationship and Communication difficulties can occur early in life, so it is important to make an early diagnosis in order to respond to the child's needs as precociously as possible. DIR Model of Intervention (Developmental, Individual differences, Relationship-based ) is an intensive method of intervention with a very significant success rate . In this workshop, aimed at early intervention technicians, educators and caregivers of children with Relationship and Communication Disorder, will be addressed the guiding principles of this intervention method.