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The Difference Between an Attention Scale and an Understanding Scale

Stephanie Mayer Volker, M.S., CCC-SLP

June 19, 2013

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Question

Is the Attention Scale that you use for cognitive rehabilitation with children and adolescents the same thing as the Understanding Scale that you use?

 

 

Answer

That can be different.  I use an Understanding Scale as the child's rating of their perception of how well they understood something they have read, something they have heard, and/or something they have studied.  It is “how well I get it.”  The Attention Scale is “this is how hard I am paying attention.”  It is a more active strategy.  It is a scale rating; their active ability to pay attention.  If you think about it, if you have a higher rating on your Attention Scale, then that should hopefully translate into a higher rating on your Understanding Scale because you are better at focusing.  It is a difference in strategy use.  One is more for improving the active attention of the child and the other one is to improve their awareness of how well they are or are not getting something.  A lot of my children are completely unaware of when they are missing things.  We use an understanding scale to improve their awareness of that.

Stephanie Volker is a speech-language pathologist II at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and is the Team Leader of CCHMC's Outpatient Neurorehabilitation Team. She has specialized in rehabilitation for children, adolescents, and adults her entire career and has lectured on a variety of topics related to brain injury rehabilitation and compensatory strategy training.

 


stephanie mayer volker

Stephanie Mayer Volker, M.S., CCC-SLP

Stephanie Volker is a speech-language pathologist II at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and is the Team Leader of CCHMC's Outpatient Neurorehabilitation Team. She has specialized in rehabilitation for children, adolescents, and adults her entire career and has lectured on a variety of topics related to brain injury rehabilitation and compensatory strategy training.


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