The Science Behind Cognassist: A guide to our gold-standard assessment
Indexes
Identifying and responding to a learning need is now easier than ever.
What are indexes?
Indexes are simply groups of domains that are similar to each other in terms of the cognitive processes that they measure. The 9 individual domains within our assessment measure broad areas of cognition in slightly different ways.
We have three indexes within our assessment:
Language & numbers: this relates to our overall familiarity with, and how we process the English language and numbers.
Visual & Fluid: this relates to how we process new information that we are unfamiliar with, think about abstract concepts, and complete more complex problem solving including mathematical processing. And,
Memory: this relates to how easily and efficiently we store and retrieve information from our long-term memories.
The Cognassist Enhanced Report now details whether other areas of the learner’s cognition can compensate for a learning need giving you greater flexibility in determining how to respond and when.
Why do we use Indexes?
Within each index, some domains can compensate for others, for example, if a learner scores lower in two domains that are in different indexes, say verbal reasoning and visual perception, the other, higher domains within their respective indexes can be used to compensate during daily tasks. If a learner scores lower in two domains that are in the same index however, say visual perception and visual info processing speed, compensation by other domains within the index may be more difficult.
How do we use them?
Step one is to review the index scores that we can see on the left. We recommend using these to decide on whether support is relevant.
Step two is to then review the domain scores. These tell us which type of support is relevant.
Using indexes to make decisions about support aligns to a medical measurement model of cognition that meets the most rigorous international standards of neuropsychological measurement.
In order to meet these standards for evidencing support needs during your learner’s course, we rely on measuring important broad areas of cognition, which are our indexes, by using multiple measurements that are somewhat different from each other, which are our domains.
We can think of this as being similar to a medical practitioner running multiple different tests before a decision about whether to treat is made. The results of the individual tests however may direct what kind of treatment is relevant.
By using multiple pieces of evidence to decide on our support plans for learners, we can be confident in the robustness of our decisions and how we’re evidencing them to different stakeholders.
Speak with an expert
Get a demo of Cognassist
Meet our Independent Scientific Advisory Board:
John R Crawford is a Professor in the School of Psychology, College of Life Sciences and Medicine, King’s College, University of Aberdeen. He has published over 170 scientific papers, with over 55,000 citations. Professor Crawford holds honorary appointments as a Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist and Consultant Clinical Psychologist with Grampian NHS and is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society.
Professor John R Crawford
Professor Emeritus, Aberdeen University
Dr Clive Skilbeck is a UK-trained chartered clinical psychologist and clinical neuropsychologist, with degrees from Liverpool University and a PhD from Plymouth University. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society and a member of the Australian Psychological Society and College of Clinical Neuropsychologists. Dr Skilbeck was heavily involved in the initial design and development of Cognassist.
Dr. Clive Skilbeck
Clinical Neuropsychologist Consultant
Dr John Welch is a Chartered Clinical Psychologist and Practitioner Clinical Neuropsychologist, who has held the roles of Top-Grade Psychologist and Principal Psychologist at Newcastle upon-Tyne NHS Health Authority. He is an expert witness for the NHS and private practices and Chair of the Executive Committee of the Division of Neuropsychological B.P.S. Dr Welch also contributed to our development from the start.
Dr. John Welch
Clinical Neuropsychologist Consultant
Chris Petkov is Professor of Comparative Neuropsychology at Newcastle University, Professor and Vice Chair for Research at University of Iowa, and Editor-in-Chief of Current Research in Neurobiology journal. He holds Wellcome Trust Investigator and European Research Council awards. His research aims to advance scientific knowledge on the neurobiology of cognition and communication.
Professor Chris Petkov
Neuropsychology Professor at Newcastle University
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