Neuropsychological evaluations can help you and your medical providers understand how the different areas of your brain are working as well as information about your strengths and weaknesses. Testing will be helpful in understanding your specific situation and can help with differential diagnosis and treatment planning. When conducting neuropsychological evaluations, the examiner takes into account multiple factors including your medical history, experience of your symptoms, and results on testing. Testing is usually recommended when there are symptoms or complaints involving memory or thinking, which may be signaled by a change in concentration, organization, reasoning, memory, language, perception, coordination, or personality. The change may be due to any of a number of medical, neurological, psychological, or genetic causes. At SFN our examiners specialize in the assessment of adults, older adults, and children and adolescents
What Is Assessed?
A typical neuropsychological evaluation will involve assessment of the following:
- General intellect
- Higher level executive skills (e.g., sequencing, reasoning, problem solving)
- Attention and concentration
- Learning and memory
- Language
- Visual–spatial skills (e.g., perception)
- Motor and sensory skills
- Mood and personality
SFN also offers assessments of learning differences and other neurodevelopmental issues. Some abilities may be measured in more detail than others, depending on your needs.
What Does a Neuropsychological Evaluation Involve?
- Comprehensive clinical interview
- Review of relevant records (e.g., medical, psychiatric, or schools records)
- Neuropsychological testing.
Following the evaluation, the examiner writes a comprehensive report that integrates the findings on testing with your history and self-report. This report includes a thorough conceptualization of your symptoms and findings on testing as well as recommendations that may aid you and your providers in treatment planning. Treatment recommendations are tailored to an individual’s particular profile of strengths and challenges. Whenever possible, our providers will also meet with you to provide feedback regarding the results on testing.
Areas of Specialty
- Dementia and memory issues
- Acquired brain injuries (TBIs and concussions)
- Cerebrovascular disease and stroke
- Neurological conditions (e.g., epilepsy, brain tumors, etc.)
- Movement disorders
- ADHD
- Learning differences
- Autism Spectrum Disorders
- Gifted testing
- Pre- and postsurgical evaluations
- Forensic evaluations
- Immigration and political asylum
- Multicultural/bilingual evaluations
- And more!
For more detailed information regarding neuropsychological evaluations, refer to
Clinical Neuropsychology
A Guide for Patients and Their Families
from the American Psychological Association
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