Dr. Philip Fastenau
Associate Professor
Office: LD 120G
Phone: (317) 274-2961
Email: pfastena@iupui.edu
1984 B.A. Sociology, Concordia Teachers College
1988 M.A. General-Experimental Psychology, Appalachian State University
1994 Clinical Psychology Internship, Neuropsychology Track, Henry Ford Hospital
1994 Ph.D. Clinical Psychology, Michigan State University
Current Research Interests:
My primary line of research is identifying children at risk for adverse outcomes following onset or exacerbation of a neurological condition (e.g., epilepsy, spina bifida, head injuries). In collaboration with a multidisciplinary team (nursing, neurology, psychiatry, neuroradiology, developmental pediatrics, and biostatistics), I am attempting to model how neurological conditions affect children’s brain development, their cognitive processing (such as attention, memory, etc.), their progress in school, and their emotional and behavioral adjustment. My collaborators and I recently completed a longitudinal study testing this model in children with chronic epilepsy. A subsequent cross-sectional study explored unique challenges in a subgroup with lower intellectual functioning.
Currently, our team is completing a 7-year multi-site prospective longitudinal study that follows a large and representative cohort of children following their first recognized seizure; we are following 365 children with seizures and 246 sibling controls for 3 years beginning at onset and collecting comprehensive data at 3 time points (e.g., MRI, EEG, neurological exam, neuropsychological evaluation, structured interviews). Particularly relevant to my clinical interest in epilepsy surgery, this will be the first well-controlled large-scale prospective study with comprehensive clinical data (including neuropsychological testing) to map the course of mesial temporal sclerosis and its cognitive correlates and to prospectively identify the risk factors for medical intractability. In addition, these findings will help to develop interventions for parents, school staff, and health care professionals to help optimize the educational and behavioral success of children with neurological conditions and to facilitate their transition to independence and to vocational success in adolescence and adulthood.
My other main research interest is in psychometrics. I have been involved in modifying tests (e.g., elaborating the Rey Complex Figure Test into the Extended Complex Figure Test), developing alternate forms for existing tests, and collecting normative data. I have also been committed to examining how well our tests measure what they are designed to measure (validity) and how consistent those measurements are (reliability). Finally, I have been interested in various aspects of administration that influence test performance (e.g., omission of trials and effects of test order).
Selected Publications:
Fastenau, P. S., Shen, J., Dunn, D. W., Perkins, S. M., Hermann, B. P., & Austin, J. K. (2004). Neuropsychological predictors of academic underachievement in pediatric epilepsy: Moderating roles of demographic, seizure, and psychosocial variables. Epilepsia, 45, 1261-1272.
Koop, J. I., Fastenau, P. S., Dunn, D. W., & Austin, J. K. (2005). Neuropsychological correlates of electroencephalograms in children with epilepsy. Epilepsy Research, 64, 49-62.
Hufford, B. J., & Fastenau, P. S. (2005). Development and validation of the Subjective Awareness of Neuropsychological Deficits Questionnaire for Children (SAND-C). Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 27, 255-277.
