What is a Neuropsychological Evaluation?

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.

Why was my child referred for an evaluation?

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 developmental delay in areas of speech, motor or social functioning, or other developmental milestones.
• A disease or inborn developmental problem that affects the brain in some way;
• A brain injury from an accident, birth trauma, or other physical stress.

At UCCF we focus our assessments primarily on cases of learning and attention difficulties as well as developmental delays.

What is assessed in this evaluation?

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, inhibition, and flexibility
• Attention
• Learning & memory
• Language
• Visual–spatial skills
• Motor coordination
• Behavioral & emotional functioning
• Social skills

Some abilities may be measured in more detail than others, depending on the child’s needs. A detailed developmental history and data from the child’s teacher may also be obtained. Observing your child to understand his or her motivation, cooperation, and behavior is a very important part of the evaluation. Emerging skills can be assessed in very young children. However, the evaluation of infants and preschool children is usually shorter in duration, because the child has not yet developed many skills.

What will the results tell me about my child?

By comparing your child’s test scores to scores of children of similar ages, our clinicians 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.

• Testing can explain why your child is having school problems. For example, a child may have difficulty reading because of an attention problem, a language disorder, an auditory processing problem, or a reading disability.
• Testing can help us clarify the diagnosis of neurodevelopmental conditions. For example, testing can help differentiate between an attention deficit and a mood disorder or determine whether a language delay is due to a problem in producing speech, understanding or expressing language, social shyness, cognitive delay or other developmental disorder.
• Testing can help detect the effects of neurodevelopmental problems, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia or autism spectrum disorder. Testing may be done to obtain a baseline against which to measure the outcome of treatment or the child’s development over time.
• 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.

What should I expect?

A neuropsychological evaluation usually includes an interview with parents about the child's history, an interview with the child, and formal testing. Testing involves paper and pencil and hands-on activities, answering questions, and sometimes using a computer. Parents are usually not in the room during testing, although they may be present with very young children. The formal testing process will take place in two separate sessions usually one week apart. We prefer that your child not go to school on the date of testing to ensure that the assessment is not affected by fatigue. Likewise, make sure your child has a good night’s sleep before the testing.

If your child wears glasses or a hearing aid or any other device, make sure to bring it. If your child has special language needs, please alert our Staff to these needs. If your child is on stimulant medication, such as Ritalin, or other medication, we would prefer if your child does not take the medication within 24 hours prior to the testing. However, please contact your child’s physician before stopping any medication.

What you tell your child about this evaluation depends on how much he or she can understand. Be simple and brief and relate your explanation to a problem that your child knows about such as "trouble with spelling," "problems following directions," or "feeling upset." Reassure a worried child that testing involves no "shots" or medical procedures. Tell your child that you are trying to understand his or her problem to make things better. You may also tell the child that "nobody gets every question right," and that the important thing is to "try your best." Your child will probably find the neuropsychological evaluation interesting, and the detailed information that is gathered will contribute to your child’s care.

Who will conduct the evaluation?

As a training clinic, all of our evaluations are conducted by advanced Doctoral graduate students in clinical psychology under the supervision of an experienced licensed psychologist. A faculty supervisor will be present during the initial intake interview and during the feedback session, and will closely oversee the entire evaluation process.

Please Contact UCCF for more information on evaluation and assessment.