When I write my reports, I like to use pictures. These are easily available through our cell phones. A picture tells a thousand words. The pictures can show what type of quality of information the person was able to pay attention to copy. I record how often the person refers to the sample as this tells me how long they can hold a mental picture. I also record how long the person was able to pay attention to the task. This allows me to establish a pattern of performance on their sustained attention. Doing multiple activities allows me to establish a pattern of performance which I can use to analyse other activities against and adjust task demands.
Clinicians can share their results as deidentified cases with other clinicians around the world. We have been doing this in international study groups. This has been highly encouraged by Claudia Allen and we in the ACDM team are sure she would like us continue this sharing and learning together.
Just a word of warning about using pictures to capture the person's performance. A picture does not note how long the activity took and the number of times they referred to the sample. The clinician must pay attention to the person's facial expression and hand movements which are not recorded in the photo. The photo should be taken at the end of the activity. Some diagnosis groups are more likely to fluctuate on their ability to function. Fatigue and other confounding factors may also occur and skew your score. Fatigue can be seen in the person's eyes, when the pupils in their eyes stop wiggling and they give a blank stare. When this occurs, now is the time to take a break and let the person have a rest. Drop the task demand by choosing a simpler activity like chatting about a familiar topic. Human behaviour is not always predictable.