CAGEN
CDD Examination Policy
CDD Examination Construction/Development
CDD Application and Fees
CDD Examination Review
CDD Blueprints
CDD References
CDD Complaints/Appeals of Examination
The purpose of the Childhood Developmental Disability certification program of the American Chiropractic Neurology Board is to conduct certification activities in a manner that upholds standards for competent practice in the health care specialty of Childhood Developmental Disability as a subspecialty of Chiropractic Neurology. The Board also conducts recertification designed to enhance the continued competence of the individual. The population of certificants are Doctors of Chiropractic who have completed specialist level training in Childhood Developmental Disability from a chiropractic college, university, institution, foundation or agency whose program is approved by the continuing education committee of the Commission for the Accreditation of Graduate Education in Neurology (CAGEN) of a minimum of one hundred (100) credit hours in Childhood Developmental Disability and who have demonstrated competency in both written and practical examinations administered by the Board in the specialty of Childhood Developmental Disability. The Board administers examinations for the purpose of evaluating the candidate's proficiency in Neurology and neurological subspecialties, including Childhood Developmental Disability. Candidates who are successful in all parts of the Board Examination of the ACNB shall receive a diploma certifying that they are a
BOARD CERTIFIED IN CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY
.The Board maintains testing mechanism(s) that adequately measure the knowledge and skill required for entry, maintenance and/or advancement in the chiropractic neurology subspecialty of Childhood Developmental Disability. This is assured through five-year job analysis with biannual update, test construction based on specified content and verified as valid and reliable. The examinations shall cover both a cognitive written exam and a practical demonstrating desired skills and treatment applications. The Board awards certification only after the skill and knowledge of the individual have been evaluated and determined to be acceptable. This rigor is for the purpose of protecting the public by assuring a minimal level of qualification demonstrated via written and practical examination.
Eligibility:
- The applicant must hold the degree of Doctor of Chiropractic from a CCE accredited college (USA) or its equivalent.
- The applicant must show evidence of having successfully completed a post doctoral program in neurology of 0ne hundred (100) credit hours in Childhood Developmental Disabilities/Disorders (CDD) from a chiropractic college, university, institution, foundation or agency whose program is approved by the continuing education committee of the Commission for the Accreditation of Graduate Education in Neurology (CAGEN). The Chiropractic College, organization, institution, foundation, or agency from which the applicant has completed his/her course of study must certify to the Board that the applicant has satisfactorily completed one hundred (100) credit hours of postdoctoral instruction in Childhood Developmental Disability. The ACNB strongly recommends that the candidate for the Childhood Developmental Disability examination take the three hundred (300) hours of Chiropractic Neurology education and take and pass the ACNB Diplomate in Chiropractic Neurology examination prior to sitting for the CDD examination.
- The applicant must possess a license or registration to practice chiropractic and be in good standing with the respective licensing/registration agency.
- The candidate must submit an application on a form specified by the Board within the Board designated deadline.
All examination materials are copyrighted material of the ABCN. No reproduction
or duplication of the material is permitted, unless authorized by ABCN. All draft
materials utilized by examination development committee members are kept secured
in a double locked enclosed area and inventoried regularly. All committee members
sign confidentiality agreements when generating and/or reviewing examination
materials. Any material considered unusable is shredded prior to disposal.
All duplication of examination materials has been done in a closed environment
under secure arrangements. All test documents utilized by exam candidates have
unique control numbers. Any examination materials delivered to an examination
site by courier service have an inventory list that is signed off prior to delivery
and upon opening. Once used and repackaged for courier shipment, the inventory
list is completed and initialed again.
All candidates are examined utilizing the same form of the comprehensive written
examination. No equivalent forms of the competency evaluation are needed. The
ACNB has established a policy that all examinations will be generated in English.
Written translations of the competency evaluation are not available. No adaptations
of the evaluation material are utilized at this time. Accommodations for candidates
with disabilities are dealt with on an individual basis in accordance with
the Americans with Disabilities Act and upon special request and validation
of the disability. In accordance with American Psychological Association Standards
for Test Administration, additional time may be provided to candidates who train
in a language other than English, specifically in the practical/oral examination. Again,
this must be requested in advance.
Test items utilized in the examination have been keyed to an examination blueprint
and validated by the collective judgment of the subject matter experts utilized
via committee. This committee performed the tasks of objective writing,
case study writing, item and distractor writing. They validate items
utilizing source documents from the chiropractic neurology and childhood developmental
disability field. All of these activities have been conducted under the direction
of a consultant psychometrician subject to standards acceptable to the National
Organization of Certification Agencies/National Commission for Competency Assurance
(NOCA/NCCA) (USA) in as far as possible given the newness of the field.
A final review panel has been utilized to review the work of the committees and
to monitor the validation procedures utilized by the committees, the linkages
of the test items to the examination blueprint, and associated content specifications.
The procedures utilized by the panel minimized content error on the part of the
committees and have provided assurances that the committees followed generally
accepted principles in item development. Each examination question has undergone
this process and the items were entered into an item-banking computerized program,
(LXR test software package, PAR score/PAR test) which allows the board to maintain
all of the specifications of the test item relating to its linkage to the examination
blueprint, job analysis, and content validity.
After a sufficient pool of questions was developed and banked into the software,
an assessment was made of the number of test items developed for each content
domain to ensure that there was a sufficient pool of items in each major/minor
content area. Once satisfied that a sufficient pool of items existed, a form
of the examination was generated according to the content specifications. Because
this field is so recent, a pilot test was not possible given the very small
number of individuals certified in Childhood Developmental Disabilities and
the number of these people involved in the writing of this examination. This test
was first administered in September of 2007 with the test takers writing comments
on the test and the committees reviewing these comments along with the psychometrician
evaluating the overall statistics and item analysis. This resulted in
the final test that was administered in 2008.
A cut-score committee was assembled to establish the passing point of the examinations. The committee members selected were screened for their qualifications in the field of chiropractic neurology and Childhood Developmental Disabilities. The cut-score procedure utilized was a modified Angoff procedure for determining the various passing points on both written and practical examinations. Each member of the committee rated each question that will be used in the grading of the examinations and a running mean score was calculated. When completed, the cut score for each of the examinations was determined, including the variance, standard deviation, KR 20 value, and the standard error of measurement. Each member of the multiple-choice exam Angoff cut-score committee was responsible for determining the passing point as it related to the minimally competent candidate. Prior to their initial rating, committee members were trained on cut-score methodology and provided a worksheet outlining the process with space on the worksheet to be used in describing the minimally competent candidate
Fees:
The examination fee is set annually by the board and is non-refundable.
Application:
Applications for the Board Certification Examination are included at the end
of this handbook. Candidates may also obtain applications from the Board Web
site at http://www.acnb.org/application.html or
from the ACNB at:
American Chiropractic Neurology Board, Inc.
8510 Hillcroft
Houston, Texas 77096
Or by telephone: (713) 772-4607 or FAX (713) 772-6015
Or via email: Secretary@acnb.org
View PDF of Fees and Application
The Childhood Developmental Disorders written examination consists of a general information questions and a series of cases with histories and examination followed by several questions related to that case. The candidate needs in depth knowledge of all brain areas in order to be able to diagnose, clinically and the level of the lesion, and treat these disorders. The following list is suggestive but not comprehensive of cases that may be on the test.
Lobe dysfunction (any lobe)
Auditory dysfunction
Auditory integration dysfunction
Sensory integration dysfunction
ADD/ADHD-all types
Learning Disabilities-all
Failure to thrive
Seizures-all types
Gastroporesis
Amyotropic Lateral Sclerosis
Guillain Barre Syndrome
Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome
Multiple Sclerosis
Pseufo Bulbar palsy
Polio
Charcot’s Disease
Primary Myopathy
Chronic Inflammatory Demyelination Process
Neurofibromatosis-all types
Neurofibromatosis-all types
AICA Syndrome
Landau-Kleffner syndrome
Autism
Aspberger’s syndrome
Angelmann syndrome
Smith-Lemili-Otiz Syndrome
Tourette’s syndrome
Developmental apraxia of speech
Fragile X syndrome
Rett’e Syndrome
Childhood Disintegrative Disorder
Down’s Syndrome
Bipolar Disorder
Receptive language disorders
Expressive language disorders
Dysfluency
Oral-motor articulation
Resonance or voice disorders
Deafness
Dyslexia
Dysphasia
Agnosia
Agraphia
Perseveration
Oppositional Defiant Disorder
Memory deficits
Apraxias
Acalculia
Hypotactile dysfunction
Vestibular dysfunction
Cerebral Palsy
Cerebellar Dysfunction
Pervasive Developmental Disorder
Schizophrenia
Other areas that must be comprehended comprehensively include:
VENG
VOR
OPK
CAPS testing
Nutrition
Food Allergies
Supplements
All types of special tests including laboratory, imaging, electroencephlography,
etc.
All types of treatment including adjustments and non-adjustment treatments
All types of home therapeutic treatments
Patient and family education
Developmental reflexes and milestones
Developmental anatomy and physiology, especially neurological
Educational testing and results
Developmental neuropsychological testing and results
Perinatal development and
events-normal and abnormal
Childhood Developmental Disorders: Blueprints: Written and Practical
| Written Topics Educational Issues Anatomy & Physiology Diagnosis Differential Diagnosis Treatment Rehabilitation Special Studies Referral Diet/Supplements |
Percent of Questions 5% 11% 38% 23% 8% 4% 4% 2% 5% |
|
5% |
- Anderson, JC et al., Arch. Gen. Psychiatry, 44, 69-76 (1987).
- Szatmari, P. et al., J. Child Psychol. Psychiatry, 30, 219-230 (1989).
- Faraone, SV and Biederman, J, Child Adolesc. Psychiatr. Clin. N. Am., 3, 285-301 (1994).
- Gillis, J.J. et al., J Abnorm. Child Psychol., 20, 303-315 (1992).
- Hechtman, L., J Psychiatry Neurosci., 19, 193-201 (1994).
- Pauls, D.L., J. Child Adolsc. Psychopharm., 1, 353-360 (1991).
- American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorder, 4th edition, 1994. American Psychiatric Association Press; Washington, DC.
- Shaywitz, B. et al, Adv. Pediatrics, 44, 331-367 (1997).
- Weiss, G. and Hechtman, L., Hyperactive Children Grown Up. Guilford, New York: 1986.
- Lambert, N.M. et al., Am J. Orthopsychiat., 57, 22-32 (1987).
- Gittelman, R. et al., Arch. Gen. Psychiatry, 42, 937-947 (1985).
- Rubia, K. et al., Am. J. Psychiatry, 156, 891-896 (1999) [get reference].
- Berquin, P.C. et al., Neurology, 50, 1087-1093 (1998).
- Add ADHD and parietal cortex reference.
- Solanto, M.L., Behavioral Brain Research, 130, 65-71 (2002).
- Akshoomoff, A.N. et al, Int. Rev. Neurobiol., 41, 575-598 (1997).
- Levy, F. and Swanson, J.M., Australian and New Zealand J. Psychiat., 35, 504-511 (2001).
- Andersen, R.A. and Buneo, C.A., Annu. Rev. Neurosci., 25, 189-220 (2002).
- Heilman, K.M. et al., Handbook of Clinical Neurology, 153-183 , 1984. Elsevier: Amsterdam.
- Voeller, K.K. and Heilman, K.M., Neurology, 38, 806-808 (1998).
- Heilman, K.M.. et al., J. Child Neurol., 6, S76-S81 (1991).
- Mitchell, W.G. et al., J. Child Neurol., 5, 195-204 (1990).
- Carter, C.S. et al., Biol. Psychiatry, 37, 789-797 (1995).
View PDF of CDD Exam References
- The Board must receive Complaints/Appeals within three (3) months of the mailing date of exam results to be considered.
- The cost of reviewing failed parts of the examination will be non-refundable and set annually by the Board.
Disposition of Complaints:
If a complaint or dispute arises questioning
a Board action the following actions are to take place.
- Administrative adjudication of a complaint/dispute.
- The complainant shall specifically state the complaint in writing and submit this document to the Board Secretary for response by the Board.
- The Board shall respond within thirty (30) days to the submitted complaint.
- The complainant shall then have thirty (30) days to respond to the report of the Board and submit additional information supportive of his complaint.
- The Board shall then have thirty (30) days to respond to the complaint and additional information being submitted.
- The complainant shall then have thirty (30) days to request an Appeal for a Full Review Board.
Appeal to a full Review Board
- Formation. If the administrative adjudication is unsuccessful and the complainant requests it in writing, then a Review Board shall be formed consisting of a person who is Board Certified in Childhood Developmental Disabilities in good standing who is not a member of the Board; an individual who is either an attorney or trained in law, such as an arbitrator or hearing officer, designated by the Board, an individual designated by the complainant.
- Procedure. The Chair of the Review Board shall be the person designated by the Board. The Review Board shall remain neutral and shall act as a judicial tribunal to hear the dispute. The Review Board shall set a date for a hearing and conduct a hearing at which time the Board shall make a presentation concerning the dispute and the complainant or representative thereof shall make a presentation concerning the dispute. Witnesses, testimony and other evidence shall be presented to the Review Board for its consideration. The Review Board shall make a finding of facts and conclusions binding all parties, within sixty (60) days of the hearing.
- Costs. All costs for the Review Board proceedings shall be borne and paid by the non-prevailing party, including but not limited to attorney's fees and per diem expenses and remuneration of Review Board members and witnesses. In order to initiate the proceedings, the complaining party shall post with the Board a bond in the amount of fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000 U.S.), unless, upon showing of good cause, the Board determines a lesser amount appropriate. If the complaining party does not prevail, the bond amount shall be applied to the Board's costs and attorneys' fees, and any balance shall be returned. Any costs and attorneys' fees exceeding the bond amount shall be paid by, and may be recovered against, the complaining party.