Cognitive inter-ventions combined with tDCS for adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders – focus on aggressive behaviour. Literature review
Date Issued
October 25, 2018
Author(s)
Abstract
When designing interventions for adolescent students presenting neurodevelopmental
disorders we usually face the problem of aggressiveness. A behaviour that most
frequent co-exist with elevated risk of school dropout for these students. Experience in
the field shows that: there is a need for comprehensive assessment of domain general
cognitive functions such as attention, memory and executive functions as well as
language abilities in adolescence with neurodevelopmental disorders and aggression.
Deficits in these areas are thought to account for functional impairments that
adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders display across a range of settings
including academic difficulties, behavioural problems and social isolation.
Additionally, an intervention protocol for specific cognitive tasks (cognitive training),
with the goal of increasing the underlying executive functions (including memory and
attention) should be designed and implemented. Finally, in order to augment outcomes,
technology such as tDCS should be used in combination with cognitive training /
interventions.
To come up with a novel intervention protocol, we conducted a literature review, among
articles published from 01/2000 to 08/2018.
First we searched for (cognitive) interventions provided for adolescents diagnosed with
a neurodevelopmental disorder. The second theme was how is the technology of
transcranial direct stimulation, utilised in the field of interventions for
neurodevelopmental disorders? Finally is there a common ground where conventional
cognitive interventions meet with tDCS? And if yes, what are the outcomes? Is this a
fruitful combination? Is there any research evidence supporting (or rejecting) the
combination of the two methodologies?
This search surprisingly gave only limited number of articles discussing the combined
theme of cognitive interventions targeting on aggressive behaviours in adolescence,
implementing the Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation, despite the growing need for
these kinds of treatments and the growing utilization of tDCS along with cognitive
interventions. The poster will summarize the results or the literature review.
disorders we usually face the problem of aggressiveness. A behaviour that most
frequent co-exist with elevated risk of school dropout for these students. Experience in
the field shows that: there is a need for comprehensive assessment of domain general
cognitive functions such as attention, memory and executive functions as well as
language abilities in adolescence with neurodevelopmental disorders and aggression.
Deficits in these areas are thought to account for functional impairments that
adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders display across a range of settings
including academic difficulties, behavioural problems and social isolation.
Additionally, an intervention protocol for specific cognitive tasks (cognitive training),
with the goal of increasing the underlying executive functions (including memory and
attention) should be designed and implemented. Finally, in order to augment outcomes,
technology such as tDCS should be used in combination with cognitive training /
interventions.
To come up with a novel intervention protocol, we conducted a literature review, among
articles published from 01/2000 to 08/2018.
First we searched for (cognitive) interventions provided for adolescents diagnosed with
a neurodevelopmental disorder. The second theme was how is the technology of
transcranial direct stimulation, utilised in the field of interventions for
neurodevelopmental disorders? Finally is there a common ground where conventional
cognitive interventions meet with tDCS? And if yes, what are the outcomes? Is this a
fruitful combination? Is there any research evidence supporting (or rejecting) the
combination of the two methodologies?
This search surprisingly gave only limited number of articles discussing the combined
theme of cognitive interventions targeting on aggressive behaviours in adolescence,
implementing the Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation, despite the growing need for
these kinds of treatments and the growing utilization of tDCS along with cognitive
interventions. The poster will summarize the results or the literature review.