Neuropsychological Evaluation is a testing method through which a psychologist, such as myself, can gather data about an individual’s cognitive, behavioral, linguistic, motor and executive functioning. It is used for both diagnosis and treatment planning. Testing a variety of cognitive abilities and examining patterns of performance in different areas can help the neuropsychologist make inferences about underlying brain functions.
The benefits of neuropsychological evaluation are that it can help identify your strengths and weaknesses, aid in differential diagnosis, and is normed and reliable. It can be used to measure baseline functioning, cognitive change, and outcome and has led to the early detection of many disorders. By determining which cognitive abilities are preserved and which are affected in an individual with an illness or brain injury, I can predict how well one may respond to different forms of treatment or rehabilitation.
There are different levels of evaluation. Your doctor may refer you for a screening evaluation to determine basic cognitive functioning, or for a more extensive evaluation of all areas of functioning in order to aid in differential diagnosis and treatment planning.
You should be aware that it can take several hours to conduct interviews with both the patient and caregivers/informants, review medical records, and administer face-to-face testing. Then I spend time scoring the tests by comparing the scores against appropriate norms, and prepare a report for your doctor which will include results and recommendations.