The Assessment of the Hispanic Child

Abstract

(from the chapter) Because childhood is indeed defined by culture, and culture significantly impacts the central nervous system (CNS) and brain development (c.f, Ardila, 2003; Blonder, 1991; Kennepohl, 1999; Mandal, Ida, Harizuka, & Upadhaya, 1999; Moss, Davidson, & Saron, 1985), it is proper and meritorious to examine the neuropsychological assessment of the Hispanic child, a cultural minority within American society, in a dedicated chapter in a comprehensive volume of this nature. The chapter initially presents population statistics regarding Hispanics in order to demonstrate the prevalence of this group within the U.S. population. Before addressing specific, pragmatic assessment issues, the chapter first provides an introduction to important topics to consider when assessing youths from this ethnic minority group including demographic characteristics, ethical issues, immigration patterns and their impact upon neuropsychological assessment and inference, and other critical topics addressing cultural factors and neuropsychological assessment. Finally, although a detailed simple path could have been adopted addressing narrow assessment issues, such as what test to administer, a posture was taken to address more general but important issues associated with the assessment of Hispanic youth, and the reader is referred to more comprehensive volumes (Llorente, 2008) or dedicated chapters (c.f, Gonzalez, 2001; Marlowe, 2000) for such topics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved)