Assessment 3 Instructions: Brain Injury Case Studies

 

Practice applying theories and models to help understand case studies involving traumatic brain injury, including possible treatment options.

As you work on this assessment, you’ll have the chance to explore strategies for enhancing learning and memory. You’ll consider what might explain someone whose long-term memory is fine but who has problems with short-term memory. Forgetting everyday things happens to everyone. You’ll consider what might contribute to this and strategies to help prevent it.

Overview

Once you have learned cognitive theories and models, you can begin to use them to help understand challenges that individuals experience with learning and cognition. That’s what you’ll do for this assessment.

Preparation

In this assessment, you will practice applying theories and models to help your understanding of several case studies. In preparation, complete the following media piece:

• Riverbend City: Case Studies

Instructions (Assignment 1)

Use the APA Paper Template [DOCX] to complete this assessment:

• Summarize briefly the featured case studies.
  • Include in your summary the condition depicted and possible causes of the memory loss using theories and research from the course readings.
  • Integrate your course resources and at least three peer-reviewed and scholarly resources (no more than five years old) to help support your analysis.
  • Describe the research methods used in the sources cited and analysis of their appropriateness.
• Conclude with possible treatment options for the person featured in the case study, using scholarly research sources as a basis.

Important: Prior to submission, conduct a self-evaluation of this assessment using the scoring guide and identifying the proficiency level for each criterion. Submit your assessment and the self-evaluation (as a separate attachment). See below for more instructions.

Additional Requirements

Your assessment should also meet the following requirements:

• Written communication: Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
• Resources: Use your course resources and at least three peer-reviewed and scholarly resources (no more than five years old).
• APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to current APA style and formatting guidelines.
• Template: Use the APA Paper Template [DOCX]for your paper.
• Length: 3-4 typed, double-spaced pages.
• Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.

Self-Evaluation- (Assignment 2)

When you have finished, write a separate, one-page self-evaluation of your work compared to the scoring guide criteria.

1. Ensure that you have completed all assessment requirements (ideally at the Distinguished level).
2. Evaluate your performance using the criteria in the scoring guide.
   • Compare and contrast your self-evaluation from the previous assessment with the feedback provided by your faculty to align your personal evaluation with faculty expectations.
3. Indicate the proficiency level you met for each criterion.
4. Include the scoring guide (including comments) with your self-evaluation.
5. Submit the self-evaluation as a separate attachment when you submit your assessment.

You may find the Self-Evaluation Tool helpful in guiding you through this process.

Competencies Measured

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the course competencies through the following assessment scoring guide criteria:

• Competency 1: Apply psychology theories and concepts to human learning and cognition.
  • Summarize the conditions depicted in case studies.
• Competency 2: Apply research findings to topics in human learning and cognition.
  • Describe possible causes of the memory loss featured in case studies.
• Competency 3: Describe the research methods used in the study of human learning and cognition.
  • Describe the research methods used in the sources cited and analyze their appropriateness.
• Competency 4: Analyze theory and research to solve problems and inform professional behavior in human learning and cognition.
  • Apply scholarly research sources as a basis for possible treatment options for a person in a featured case study.
• Competency 5: Apply metacognitive strategies to self-assess performance quality.
  • Conduct a self-evaluation using established scoring criteria and identifying the proficiency level for each criterion.
• Competency 6: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and consistent with expectations for professionals in the field of psychology.
  • Address assessment purpose in a well-organized text, incorporating appropriate evidence and tone in grammatically sound sentences.

 

SCORING GUIDE (Brain Injury Case Studies)

1. Summarize the conditions depicted in case studies
2. Describe possible causes of the memory loss featured in case studies.
3. Describe the research methods used in the sources cited and analyze their appropriateness.
4. Apply scholarly research sources as a basis for possible treatment options for a person in a featured case study.
5. Conduct a self-evaluation using established scoring criteria and identifying the proficiency level for each criterion.
6. Address assessment purpose in a well-organized text, incorporating appropriate evidence and tone in grammatically sound sentences.

 

Case Studies:

RIVERBEND CITY ® ACTIVITY

• Introduction
• Case 1
• Case 2
• Conclusion

Introduction

Injuries to the brain can heal, but they often have significant long-term effects on survivors. In this activity, you’ll see two different people who experience cognitive impairment very differently.

Case 1

Norma Lauderback

Meet Norma Lauderback, an 80-year-old woman who lives in the upper Midwestern city of Riverbend City. She’s been married to her husband, Floyd Lauderback, for over 50 years.

At Home

One day, as she’s washing dishes in her kitchen, Norma suddenly feels strange and drops a dish on the floor.

Norma: Floyd, my face feels numb.

Floyd: Where on your face?

Norma: On the…

Floyd: Yes? Where? Norma? Whoa, watch it, you’re falling! Here, let’s sit on the floor.

Norma: Mng. Uh. Mng.

Floyd: Norma, did you just get dizzy? Nod your head if you did. Okay, that’s enough, I’m calling 911.

At the Hospital

Dr. Nathan Cartwright: Hello, Mrs. Lauderback, I’m here to check you out and figure out what’s going on.

Floyd: She said her face felt numb, but she couldn’t tell me what part.

Dr. Cartwright: All right, Norma, can you raise both arms over your head? …Good. That’s good. No, it’s okay that that right one is falling. You can put them both down now.

Floyd: She was holding a dish with that hand, and dropped it right before she said her face was numb.

Dr. Cartwright: Norma, let’s try smiling at me. Can you give me a smile?

Floyd: She can only smile with one side!

Dr. Cartwright: She’s having trouble speaking, but she does seem to understand what I’m saying. Did she say anything about a headache, dizziness, or loss of coordination?

Floyd: She nodded when I asked if she was dizzy. And she couldn’t walk too well as we were headed to the car.

Dr. Cartwright: Norma, can you see? Out of your right eye? Out of your left? Hm, she’s just shaking her head.

Your Evaluation

Answer the following questions about Norma’s case. At the end of this activity, if you wish, you will be able to download your answers in a document for use in your assignment.

Describe the symptoms Norma is showing, and the possible cause or causes of her cognitive impairment.

Your response:

This question has not been answered yet.

What treatment options do you think could be used in Norma’s case?

Your response:

This question has not been answered yet.

 

Case 2

Kyla Washington

Meet Kyla Washington, a 16-year-old girl who lives in Riverbend City. Kyla is on the softball team at her high school and plays the trumpet in the marching band.

One day, Kyla is out driving around with friends, and a drunk driver hits their car on Kyla’s side.

At the Hospital

Dr. Nathan Cartwright: All right, let’s transfer her to the bed on my count…1, 2, 3! Okay. Pupil of the right eye is significantly dilated….let’s check the other side…so is the left.

Joe Farnstock: Is she going to be all right?

Dr. Cartwright: We’re going to do our best. How long has she been unconscious?

Joe Farnstock: Probably 15 minutes by now?

Dr. Cartwright: Nausea? Vomiting? Seizures?

Joe Farnstock: She did throw up in the car. I don’t know about a seizure. I don’t think so.

Dr. Cartwright: Did she say anything? Maybe how she felt?

Joe Farnstock: Just that she had a headache. I mean, I think that’s what she said. She sounded all weird, like she was drunk or something. And she took a swing at me.

Dr. Cartwright: You mean she tried to punch you?

Joe Farnstock: Yeah! I mean, she missed by a mile. She couldn’t move very well at all. She said her fingers felt funny.

Your Evaluation

Answer the following questions about Kyla’s case. At the end of this activity, if you wish, you will be able to download your answers in a document for use in your assignment.

Describe the symptoms Kyla is showing, and the possible cause or causes of her cognitive impairment.

Your response:

This question has not been answered yet.

What treatment options do you think could be used in Kyla’s case?

Your response:

This question has not been answered yet.

Conclusion

Now that you have seen what symptoms present after strokes or traumatic brain injuries, you’re better equipped to consider what those symptoms mean, and how these conditions should be treated.

You may find it useful to download your responses to the questions in a document, for use in your assignment.