News

Please join the TOVA Company and Dr. Boivin on May 13, 2021

On Thursday, May 13, 2021, for a live presentation covering Professor Boivin's work on using neurodevelopmental tests in early childhood to predict neurocognitive performance at school-age in at-risk African children

Posted: Mar 13, 2024

Professor Boivin leads the Global Neuropsychiatry Research Group in the College of Osteopathic Medicine at MSU and had done neurodevelopmental intervention and assessment work with African children since 1989.  He has used the Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA) with children in pediatric HIV research in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Uganda, and Tanzania; and with children surviving severe malaria in Senegal, Uganda and Malawi. He has also validated the use of the TOVA in Laos.

The TOVA is a neuropsychological assessment  created in the 1960s by Dr. Lawrence Greenberg . It measures an individual’s ability to remain focused during a repetitive , boring task, and their ability to control their impulses during  a more stimulating task. From this assessment, a series of variables are measured and eventually analyzed to determine whether or not the person truly had problems with paying attention and controlling impulses.

Dr. Boivin's present work and that of his research group relating to the use of the TOVA test is featured at the links below.
 
https://www.tovatest.com/news/2011-02-28_Michael_Boivin/
 

https://www.thriveearly.msu.edu/

Register for the Webinar here