Why is this research important?

• Do you have a friend or family member with a child who has a developmental delay or disability?  Maybe you know someone who does. 
• Neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDDs) include autism, Aspergers, other pervasive developmental disabilities, and intellectual disabilities (formerly referred to as mental retardation).  NDDs also include some genetic, metabolic, and developmental conditions that influence cognitive, social, and emotional functioning.
• When children are suspected of having developmental delays, it may take several assessments before the child is correctly diagnosed…and longer still for a child and family to get connected with academic interventions, family supports, and other services.  Early, appropriate interventions are often linked to outcomes such academic success, social adjustment, independent living, and better quality of life for children and families.
• Now imagine a cultural or ethnic minority child or a family who doesn’t speak English or has recently moved to the U.S.   Think about them navigating the system to get an assessment, arrive at an accurate diagnosis, or get hooked up with support services.  It’s much more complicated when there are multicultural factors or other factors such as a complex medical situation, poverty, homelessness, or trauma.
• I am hoping my research can help pediatric neuropsychologists examine the way they approach assessments to more appropriately assess multicultural children and families. This may lead to better outcomes such as accurate diagnoses and useful treatment and intervention plans.
• This purpose of this project is to raise money to fund my research.

What does the research look at?

• Multicultural factors that emerge during assessment may be related to the child and family, such as language, culture, ethnicity, immigration status, poverty, and a number of other factors.
• Factors related to the cultures of the clinician and assessment team may also influence the assessment
• Assessment may occur within organizations that have limited resources to appropriately assess children from minority language and cultural groups.
• Assessment instruments (tests) may be culturally biased or lack ecological validity, and normative samples may not comprise representative minority samples.

What is the MPNPA Model?

• Based on my earlier pilot study, I developed an assessment model I call MPNPA (Model of Multicultural Pediatric Neuropsychological Assessment)
• The model looks at how multicultural factors across 4 domains (child/family, assessment instruments, clinician/assessment team, and organization) interact and influence NP assessment.
• The model looks at multicultural factors across these four domains and is adapted from an ecological approach based on Bronfenbrenner’s Process-Person-Context-Time (PPCT) model (Bronfenbrenner, 1999; Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2009).

Significance of research

• This research may lead to recommendations for assessment strategies that could be useful to researchers and clinicians.
• A revised version of the multicultural pediatric neuropsychological assessment (MPNPA) model could be a basis for multicultural competency training or development of guidelines for multiculturally competent assessment.  
• Recommendations from this research could help address multicultural assessment with underserved populations including English language learners, immigrants, and members of minority cultures.

What will the money be used for?

• Wow, you’re asking for a lot of money! What are you going to do with all those donations, have an ice cream party? 
• Probably not. I will use the money for the following:
  • Compensation/Incentives:  $4,500
  • Transcription of interviews:  $2,700
  • Recording equipment & supplies:  $450
  • Miscellaneous: Transportation, photocopying, printing, postage:  $475
  • Total:  $8,125

If I donate to your project, what do I get out of it?

• My eternal gratitude
• A personalized thank you card acknowledging your donation (if you include your name and email when donating)
• If you’re interested, I will share my research findings/results after the project is complete (please contact me if you want this information).

How much should I donate?

• Any donation will be appreciated, no matter how large or small.  A small portion of your donation goes to transaction fees (this donation site and PayPal). This site sets a $1 minimum donation.

How to donate

• You can donate through PayPal using debit card, credit card, or PayPal transfer.

About the researcher

• My name is Yvette Malamud Ozer.  I am a clinical psychology PhD Candidate at California School of Professional Psychology, Alliant International University, in San Francisco, California.
• I have a background in school psychology and am currently pursuing an internship in pediatric clinical neuropsychology. I am particularly interested in autism and other developmental disabilities, neuropsychological assessment, and multicultural competence in clinical psychology.
• I am principal investigator on this project. I will be doing most of the research myself, possibly with assistance from another psychology graduate student from my university.

Some of my other work

Books

• Reevy, G. M., Malamud Ozer, Y., & Ito, Y. (2010). Encyclopedia of Emotion. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood.
• Malamud Ozer, Y. (Ed.). (2012). A Student Guide to Health: Understanding the Facts, Trends, and Challenges. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood.  

Research

• Malamud Ozer, Y. (2013, April). Cultural factors in neuropsychological assessment of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities. Paper presented at CREA (Center for Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment) Inaugural Conference, Chicago, Illinois.
• Malamud Ozer, Y., & Gardella, S. (2007, August). Necessary components for resiliency development in “at-risk” students. Poster session presented at the meeting of American Psychological Association, San Francisco, California.
• Reevy, G. M., & Malamud Ozer, Y. (2006, August). How power dynamics and gender-related personality influence social support. Poster session presented at the meeting of American Psychological Association, New Orleans, Louisiana.
• Malamud Ozer, Y. (2006, April). How power dynamics and gender-related personality influence social support. Presented at California State University, East Bay, Psychology-Statistics Colloquium.

Want to know more?

• If you have more questions about the research or this fundraising project, please feel free to contact me on Facebook or by email: [email protected]

References

• Bronfenbrenner, U. (1999). Environments in developmental perspective: Theoretical and operational models. In S. L. Friedman & T. D. Wachs (Eds.), Measuring environment across the life span: Emerging methods and concepts (pp. 3-28). American Psychological Association. doi: 10.1037/10317-001
• Bronfenbrenner, U., & Morris, P. A. (2009). The bioecological model of human development. In R. M. Lerner & W. Damon (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology (6th ed., pp. 793-828). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.