Initial Interview:

Child's Name:            

Parent's Name:          

General Questions (background)

Can you start by describing your child - interests, strengths, characteristics....

1.    What is difficult for your child?

2.    In which situations are things hard for your child?  Examples:

3.    How long have things been like this?

4.    Has there been any previous assessment of your child?  Who performed it?  When was it performed? 

What did it show?  Diagnosis?  Intelligence within the normal range? 

Documented working memory difficulties?

5.    Is your child taking any type of medicine?  Which? 

(Concerta, Ritalin, Adderall, Strattera, Dexedrine, or Focalin)

6    What is your child's view of his/her difficulties?

7.    What kind of school is your child currently attending?

8.    If the class is large, does he/she have assistance?

9.     How are things for your child at school? What are his/her best subjects? Weakest subjects?

        Compared with his/her classmates, how would you say your child is doing?

        (Follow-up questions on why the child is falling behind, if this is the case.)

10.   Can your child read and write? Know the alphabet? Read individual words? Sentences? Coherent text?

        Guess a lot when reading?

11.   Can your child understand numbers? How does your child cope with mental arithmetic?

        Other math? Hard to learn basic counting skills?

12.    Can your child tell time?

13.   Does your child have a feeling for time?

14.   How is your child coping socially? Does he/she prefer to play with older children? Younger children?

        How is the interaction with adults?

Questions about attention:

Answer yes to the following questions if you think your child finds things much harder

in these areas than his/her peers, that is, to an exaggerated extent.

15.    Do you think your child finds it hard to stay concentrated on various tasks?

         How long can he/she concentrate while doing homework?

16.    Do you think your child misses things or is careless when doing schoolwork or helping out at home?

17.    Does your child find it hard to listen to others?

18.    Does your child find it hard to follow instructions? Several instructions in a row?

19.    Does your child often lose things, leave things at gym class, etc.?

20.    Is your child easily distracted by things going on around him/her?

21.    How good is your child at getting started on activities he/she has to do?

22.    Is it difficult for your child to complete tasks he/she is doing?

23.    Does your child find it hard to organize his/her school work and notebooks

         (i.e., contact book or notebooks at school), keep track of homework and get things

         ready before activities (e.g., packed lunch, gym bag, school projects)?

Questions about hypoactivity:

24.    Does your child do things slowly?

25.    Does your child daydream more than you believe is appropriate?

        Does he/she get stuck doing different activities?

Questions about hyperactivity and impulsiveness

26.    Does your child normally find it hard to stay seated in school?

27.    Does your child run around a lot at home and is he/she often overexcited?

28.    Does your child find it hard to play quietly or do things quietly on his/her own?

29.    Does he/she often start on one thing and then switch to another activity

         before finishing the first one?

30.    Does your child talk excessively, making it hard for others to get a word in edgewise?

31.    Does your child often interrupt others?

32.    Does your child find it hard to wait his/her turn in games or when playing, etc.?

33.    Does your child often lose his/her temper? In what situations? What happens?

34.    How does your child react to a setback? Can he/she cope with a setback?

Questions about other problem areas

35.    Has your child ever had an epileptic fit? If so, has there ever been a problem

        while the child watches TV or plays computer games?

36.    Has your child ever had tics [a local and habitual twitching, especially in the face]?

        To what extent?

37.    Has your child had periods of depression? (When? For how long? To what extent? What is it like now?)

38.    Has your child had periods of strong fears or anxiety?

        (When? For how long? To what extent? What is it like now?)

39.    Is your child absent from school a lot?

40.    Does your child behave defiantly towards you or other adults?

        (If so, how? Bullying, lying, stealing, running away?)

41.    Has your child had a sight or hearing checkup?

42.    Does your child have problems with his/her sleep, appetite, headaches, other pains or stress?

43.    Is there anything else that you see as a problem for your child?

44.    How does your child cope when playing computer games? Is eye-hand coordination hard for him/her?

        For example, does he/she have a hard time coping with the mouse and keyboard?

45.    How is the relationship between your child and the training aide?

46.    Will there be any big changes for your child during the training period?

Expectations on training and motivation

47.    What do you expect from working memory training? What goals do you have?

48.    Is your child motivated? Is it hard to motivate him/her?