Neuropsychological Evaluations

 

Neuropsychological evaluation will provide a thorough understanding of cognitive and emotional strengths and weaknesses, explanations about how problems may be manifested, and useful recommendations for training, interventions, and compensatory strategies.  Referrals are provided as needed.

 

Through interviews and formal testing, a neuropsychological evaluation provides a detailed assessment of an array of skills and behaviors including:
 
General intellect & Cognitive Abilities
Memory

Learning
Attention & Concentration
Executive skills 
Concept formation
Language
Visual processing
Auditory processing

Perceptual Skills
Motor coordination
Academic skills 

Adaptive Functions
Emotional & Social skills

 

Testing involves paper and pencil or construction tasks, answering questions, and computer work.  Rather than simply report scores, patterns of performance are considerd, quality of responses analyzed, and behavior is observed. 

 

There is no physical examination.

 

For Adults

Your test scores will be compared to scores from people of your age and educational background to determine how your performance compares to what would be expected.  How you go about solving the various problems and answering questions during the examination will be noted. Using these methods, your strengths and weaknesses can be identified.

 

Testing is very comprehensive and can identify problems that may not otherwise be obvious.  Such testing can help determine whether areas of concern are normal age-related changes or if they reflect a neurological disorder. Testing can be used to identify mental changes related to medical conditions such as diabetes, metabolic and infectious diseases, or alcoholism.

 

Appropriate treatment depends on accurate diagnosis. Different illnesses result in different patterns of strengths and weaknesses. Based on pattern analysis, neuropsychological testing can differentiate difficulties based on brain dysfunction from emotional disturbance.  The results are helpful in determining what illness might be operating and what treatment course is appropriate. 

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Test results can be used to for treatment plans that use strengths to compensate for weaknesses. The results help to identify what target problems to work on and which strategies to use in recovery following a stroke or traumatic brain injury.

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Testing can be used to establish a baseline of functioning to document skills before there is any problem. In this way  changes can be measured objectively.

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Other reasons for neuropsychological evaluations for adults include answering questions regarding career potential, competency to manage one’s owns affairs, consequences of head injuries for litigation purposes or disability determination.

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For Children

Developmental history, information from parents and teachers, and observations of behavior are used along with testing of specific skills.   Scores are compared to children of the same age.

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Testing can be used to determine the existence of a learning disorder, attention disorder, or emotional disorder. 

 

Different developmental disorders manifest different cognitive and behavior patterns.  

 

Neuropsychological evaluation can determine whether a child is gifted or precocious in a particular cognitive area.

 

Testing can determine if delays in mental skills are causing emotional problems or whether emotional problems are hindering expression of true potential.

 

A differential diagnosis is necessary to prepare the most appropriate treatments and interventions.

 

After the evaluation, support services ensure proper implementation of intervention plans for the years to come.