Misheva, Emilia; (2020) Educational psychologists and paediatric neuropsychology: expanding the frontiers of educational psychology practice. Doctoral thesis (D.Ed.Psy), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

Paediatric or child neuropsychology is a branch of psychology concerned with the study of brain-behaviour relationships in the context of the developing brain (Anderson et al., 2001). Typically, child neuropsychologists in the UK are qualified clinical or educational psychologists who have undergone specialist, post-qualification training and work with children diagnosed with neurological conditions in a range of settings. Despite a number of educational psychologists (EPs) working in neuropsychological settings, no empirical papers exploring the relationship between educational psychology and neuropsychology in the UK have been published to date. The aim of the present research therefore is to fill this gap in the knowledge base by firstly exploring the current attitudes towards and understanding of paediatric neuropsychology amongst EPs, as well as the applications of neuropsychology to everyday EP practice. Another objective of the research is to provide an account of the role and unique contribution of EPs working in specialist neuropsychological settings. This research adopted a mixed-methods design and was carried out in two phases. Phase 1 consisted of a national survey (n=200), exploring the views of qualified and trainee EPs in the UK on the relationship between the two disciplines, as well as on the perceived use, relevance and applicability of neuropsychology to day-to-day EP practice. Phase 2 consisted of semi-structured interviews with 10 EPs and allied professionals based in two settings supporting children with neuropsychological conditions in the greater London area. The research findings highlighted that while the majority of EPs perceive neuropsychology as relevant to their practice and report using neuropsychological principles in their work, less than a quarter of respondents reported having a good or high level of knowledge of the discipline. Similarly, while over 90% of EPs had worked on neuropsychological cases, the majority of respondents did not feel confident about their subject knowledge in those instances. Finally, the second phase of the research provided a detailed investigation of the specialist role of EPs in child neuropsychology settings, including factors motivating EPs to work in this field and the unique contribution of EPs to neuropsychology.

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