Neuropsychological Testing
What is a neuropsychological evaluation?
A neuropsychological evaluation is a comprehensive investigation into several domains of a student's functioning. The evaluation generally begins with an assessment of cognitive abilities, including verbal and perceptual reasoning, visual-motor development, attention capacity, executive functions, memory, and language functioning.
Equipped with a map of underlying cognitive abilities, we next investigate an individual’s academic achievement in reading, writing, and math. The links between cognitive capacities and academic skills help us to understand where and why a child demonstrates strengths and weaknesses.
To round out a comprehensive picture, we next assess the student’s social and emotional functioning. Together, these domains inform each individual’s unique profile and allow for targeted recommendations to help each child succeed.
When might an evaluation be helpful?
Parents, guardians, and school professionals may seek out an evaluation for a variety of reasons.
Typically, families connect with me when their child has a history of struggling in school or has begun to struggle in an academic area, despite receiving additional support and teacher attention. Common areas of focus are reading accuracy and comprehension, difficulty with writing tasks, struggling with math problem solving, and challenges with receptive and expressive language. Wavering attention and difficulties with executive functioning are another set of struggles for which one might seek out an assessment.
The evaluation helps clarify the origin of the challenges and to determine the best supports available to support a student's growth and development both in school and at home.
The evaluation process
Undertaking a neuropsychological assessment is a significant investment of time and resources, and it can be overwhelming. My goal is to help clarify and support parents and guardians throughout the process and at the conclusion of the process, to provide families and students with a valuable and helpful document that charts a roadmap to the child’s learning.
When you first reach out, we will find a time to speak by phone so that I can learn more about your referral concerns and introduce the process to you. During this call, we will also review scheduling and fees.
Our next step will be scheduling an intake meeting, during which I will gather your child's comprehensive academic, social, and emotional history. We may discuss school reports and observations, observations from home, and general development. The information gathered during this intake helps me determine which assessment measures are most appropriate for the evaluation sessions. Following the intake, we create a schedule for in-person testing sessions for the child. Testing generally takes 6-10 hours, which we typically schedule over two or three sessions, although some students prefer to work in longer stretches over fewer days. We will work together to determine a schedule that works best.
Following the testing sessions, I analyze the data, collect information from school with your permission, and incorporate all of the findings into a written report. We next meet for a feedback session, during which we review the results of the evaluation and discuss recommendations. After the feedback session, I finalize the report and share it with you.