Instructions:
Answer each question with approximately one-page essay. You don’t need to write in specific format or provide formal references. Your answers should be about 1 page (2 pages maximum if figures or graphs are included). Double spaced, and printed in 12-point font with 2.54 cm margins.

Essay Questions

1. Imagine you are a therapist who specialises in a particular cognitive disorder (e.g., dyslexia, specific language impairment, autism). And imagine you are treating a child, and this child’s mother wants to the child to try a treatment that costs $2000 that claims to be a perfect cure for that disorder.

When reviewing a treatment program: what are the steps you need to take to ensure that the program is evidence-based? What should you be wary of in each step and why?

2. Bill’s school teacher and parents thinks that he is struggling at school and might have developmental dyslexia. His speech pathologist is trying to work out Bill’s reading problem. She asked Bill to read a list of words and noticed that he had trouble reading some of the words but not others. Bill misread quay as ‘/kway/’, ready as ‘/reedy/’, island as ‘/izland/’. He could read made up words such as smope, and norf correctly, and he could also read words like ‘dog’, ‘animal’, ‘tool’, ‘cat’. Bill’s speech pathologist also noticed that Bill could keep up a good conversation with her and did not seem to have any difficulties in receptive or expressive language.

Account for the deficit Bill has in the context of the dual route model. Suggest what component(s) of the dual route model is (are) likely to be impaired and what tests you can use to localize the impairment. Based on the impairment, what other types of reading patterns might Bill show? Finally, what kind of treatment would you suggest to help Bill?

3. Describe and compare the subtype-based, syndrome-based, and cognitive-based approaches to understanding the heterogeneity of schizophrenia.