Theoretical and practical considerations in the psychological and educational assessment of the student with intractable epilepsy: Dynamic assessmentas an adjunct to static assessment

Assessing the student with intractable epilepsy requires skill not only in evaluating cognitive problems, but also detecting seizures and discovering how to adapt instruction to minimize their negative impact on learning. Iro nically, assessment efforts are seen as compromised by the occurrence of se izures during testing, when determining how seizure events may interfere wi th learning and the instructional modifications that are necessary to cope with them, should be a key part of assessment. A dual approach to assessmen t is recommended that combines the identification of cognitive deficits wit h an evaluation of how recurring seizures may prevent the student from enga ging in instruction. Without also evaluating the student's response to inst ruction, teaching to specific cognitive needs is limited by insufficient kn owledge about how to keep the student involved in instruction when seizures occur. Static assessment evaluates cognitive functioning at the time of te sting, without changing the way that the student learns and responds. By en gaging the student in teaching/learning sessions, dynamic assessment explor es how the student best learns despite cognitive deficits and the disruptiv e effect of seizures. This paper includes a description of the authors' exp erience in using dynamic assessment as an adjunct to static assessment in e valuating a student with intractable epilepsy. (C) 2001 BEA Trading Ltd.