The Contribution of Dynamic Assessment to Promote Inclusive Education and Cognitive Development of Socio-Economically Deprived Children with Learning Disabilities

Dynamic assessment refers to an assessment using an active teaching process of perception, learning, thinking and problem solving. The process is aimed at modifying an individual ́s cognitive and affective functioning and observing potential changes in learning patterns within the testing situation. This article elaborates on the promotion of cognitive and affective development in school children whose learning processes were evaluated using the Complex Figure of Rey in a Learning Propensity Assessment Device (LPAD) evaluation, as a way to include rather than exclude children from the educational setting. The dynamic evaluation showed the children ́s modifiability in functions such as planning, organizing and short-term memory. The LPAD is based on Feuerstein’s theories of structural cognitive modifiability and mediated learning experience, with a constructive view on intelligence. Fortyfive children, 7 to 15 years old, were evaluated. In dynamic assessment, there is a teaching phase in which the examiner interferes with the process to produce a mediated “peak” performance. The findings indicated that test outcomes were significantly different (p ≤ 0,005) after mediating the learning processes and that this kind of assessment enhances certain executive functions, essential for effective learning. The findings demonstrate the benefit that children can obtain from a purposeful learning experience, which strengthens, through quality interactions, functions that appeared deficient.