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and, therefore, should be avoided by clinical neuropsychologists. In regard to the "rehabilitation" exemplar, there was concern that this could be confused with the specialty recognized by the American Board of Professional Psychology, known as "rehabilitation psychology." Others did not find this constraining since rehabilitation psychology, was not recognized by CRSPPP. Indeed, it was thought by some that a precedent had been set in the neurology community, which recognized an interest area of neuro-rehabilitation despite the existence of the medical specialty of physical medicine and rehabilitation. Following this circumspection, discretion was not thought to be necessary at this time, since only exemplars of possible sub-specialties, rather than the existence of the sub-specialties themselves, were under consideration. In the light of the above, it was decided to address the issue of sub-specialties rather than proficiencies in clinical neuropsychology. The outcome of these deliberations was the wording in section XI of the policy statement.
D. WHAT IS THE ROLE OF CONTINUING EDUCATION FOR THE SPECIALTY OF CLINICAL
NEUROPSYCHOLOGY?
CHARGE TO THE DELEGATES
Kerry des Harnsher
The role of continuing education in clinical neuropsychology was introduced to the delegates with the question: "What can continuing education legitimately provide and what should it not provide?" Reference was made to materials from the Commission for the Recognition of Specialties and Proficiencies in Professional Psychology (CRSPPP), which identified an intensive series of continuing education workshops as a way to acquire a proficiency (American Psychological Association, 1995). It was pointed out that certain standards (6.01 through 6.05) from the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (American Psychological Association, 1992) pertaining to education and teaching issues needed to be kept in mind. The statement by the American Psychological Association concerning the role and limitations of continuing education (Committee for the Approval of Continuing Education Sponsors, 1996) was identified for reference along with the Report of the Division 40 Task Force (Bornstein, 1998).
PLENARY SESSION AND VOTE
Congruence was quickly reached with the APA position that continuing
education was not a substitute for the basic academic education needed
for entry to the field of psychology nor should it be the primary vehicle
for career changes into a specialty area in psychology. Conceptually, continuing
education should be designed to meet the needs of post-graduate professionals
within psychology. It was agreed that continuing education is necessary
for maintaining and updating previously acquired knowledge and skills by
specialists in clinical neuropsychology, regardless of whether one s state
licensing board required continuing education credits. It was also agreed
this was not a method for acquiring core competencies. There was no disagreement
with any of these positions among the delegates. The result of these deliberations
became section XII of the policy statement.
FINAL EDITING OF THE POLICY STATEMENT
PLENARY SESSION
The preamble to the policy statement was discussed. A question was raised
as to why a description of the conference application and selection process
was included. It was explained that some individuals were likely to have
only a copy of the policy statement. The idea was to include some information
about the conference for them and to refer them to the full proceedings.
Delegates discussed the placement of this material and whether it should
be in a separate section. They decided to leave it where it was in the
preamble. The chair of the planning committee was asked if application
letters actually had been sent to all members of Division 40 and NAN. She
said that APA did a mailing to all members of Division 40. The planning
committee bought the mailing list for all full members of NAN and the University
of Houston did a mailing to everyone on the list. Wording with respect
to diversity was discussed. It was suggested that the sentence be changed
from "neuropsychologists who were thought to reflect diversity" to simply
"neuropsychologists who reflect diversity." This change was accepted. A
suggestion to replace the word "sex" to "gender" was not accepted. A suggestion
was made to mention the attendance of the observer from the Board of Educational
Affairs (BEA) in this section. Since the observers had not deliberated
on the issues, the idea of mentioning observer participation in the conference
was rejected. The phrase "Heretofore, there has been no widely recognized
and accepted description of integrated education and training" was discussed.
It was pointed out that there are integrated models in Canada but they
are not widely accepted, so it was recommended that "widely" be left in.
It was recommended also that "heretofore" be removed and that it be replaced
by "nevertheless" since heretofore suggests that there is a model that
now is accepted. A model that had been proposed had not been accepted yet.
The description of clinical neuropsychology in the first sentence of the
preamble was discussed. It was pointed out that clinical neuropsychology
is a specialty within the discipline of psychology. When one delegate said
that clinical neuropsychology was the first specialty to be recognized
by APA, the delegates were reminded by the representative of the BEA that
school, counseling, and clinical psychology have traditionally thought
of as specialties. It was suggested that the sentence could say: "Clinical
neuropsychology was just recently recognized as a specialty." It was decided
that the first sentence should read: "Clinical neuropsychology is a specialty
formally recognized by the American Psychological Association (APA) and
the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA).
The importance of including statements regarding cultural diversity
in the document was introduced. There was some discussion regarding the
exact wording and placement of such statements. Those making the suggestion
agreed to work out the wording and make the proposal for where such statements
should be placed when the document was to be printed out for final approval.
A second proposal was made that language be included that would
indicate that the document to be produced would apply only to the future
training of neuropsychologists, not to those who are already trained. Again,
those making the proposal agreed to work out wording and placement when
the final document was to be printed out for final approval. Delegates
then would be able to see the precise wording and where it was to be placed
before engaging in discussion. The final reconsideration of the documents
was scheduled to begin at 6:00 pm and it was anticipated that final plenary
consideration of the document could probably be completed by 8:00 pm. General
consent was given by the assembly to the planning committee to clean up
the language without changing the meaning for the final policy statement
after the conference was concluded.
Final discussion of the policy statement began with the positioning
of the description of the conference in the document, It was decided that
the
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