Children are referred by a doctor, teacher, school psychologist, or other professional because of one or more problems, such as:

• Difficulty in learning, attention, behavior, socialization, or emotional control;
• A disease or inborn developmental problem that affects the brain in some way; or
• A brain injury from an accident, birth trauma, or other physical stress.

A neuropsychological evaluation assists in better understanding your child’s functioning in areas such as memory, attention, perception, coordination, language, and personality.  This information will help you and your child’s teacher, therapists, and physician provide treatments and interventions for your child that will meet his or her unique needs.

A typical neuropsychological evaluation of a school-age child may assess these areas:

• General intellect
• Achievement skills, such as reading and math
• Executive skills, such as organization, planning, impulse control, and flexibility
• Attention
• Learning and memory
• Language
• Visual-spatial skills
• Motor coordination
• Behavioral and emotional functioning
• Social skills

By comparing your child’s test scores to scores of children of similar ages, the neuropsychologist can create a profile of your child’s strengths and weaknesses.  The results help those involved in your child’s care in a number of ways.

Most importantly, testing provides a better understanding of the child’s behavior and learning in school, at home, and in the community.  The evaluation can guide teachers, therapists, and you to better help your child achieve his or her potential.

Adult and Geriatric Services

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

Some abilities may be measured in more detail than others, depending on your needs.

Test results can be used to understand your situation in a number of ways.

• Testing can identify weaknesses in specific areas.  It is very sensitive to mild memory and thinking problems that might not be obvious in other ways.  When problems are very mild, testing may be the only way to detect them.  For example, testing can help determine whether memory changes are normal age-related changes or if they reflect a neurological disorder.  Testing might also be used to identify problems related to medical conditions that can affect memory and thinking, such as diabetes, metabolic or infectious diseases, or alcoholism.
• Test results can also be used to help differentiate among illnesses, which is important because appropriate treatment depends on accurate diagnosis.  Different illnesses result in different patterns of strengths and weaknesses on testing.  Therefore, the results can be helpful in determining which areas of the brain might be involved and what illness might be operating.  For instance, testing can help to differentiate among Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, and depression.  Your physician will use this information along with the results of other tests, such as brain imaging and blood tests, to come to the most informed diagnosis possible.