When & Why to Refer for Neuropsychological Assessment?
Referral for neuropsychological assessment is appropriate whenever there is doubt about an individual’s cognitive functioning. Areas of concern may include:
- Short-term and long-term memory
- Ability to learn new skills and solve problems
- Attention, concentration, and distractibility
- Logical and abstract reasoning functions
- Ability to understand and express language
- Visual-spatial organization, visual-motor coordination
- Planning, synthesizing, and organizing abilities
Referring treatment providers will obtain the most from an assessment when the following is specified in the referral:
- areas of cognitive and/or functional concern
- type of conclusions desired (e.g., treatment planning, vocational planning, functional limitations, diagnostic impressions).
Individuals with a wide variety of suspected or known neurological disorders are referred for neuropsychological assessment, including:
- traumatic brain injury
- cerebrovascular disorders or risk factors for same (stroke)
- demyelinating conditions (Multiple Sclerosis)
- degenerative brain disorders (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s)
- seizure disorders
- brain tumours (following surgery &/or radiation, chemotherapy)
- central nervous system infections
- complex/multiple medical conditions
Neuropsychological assessment is helpful for addressing questions related to:
- Identifying a pattern of cognitive strengths and weaknesses.
- Determining changes and disturbances in cognitive functioning in terms of presence/absence and severity of impairment.
- Differential diagnosis.
- Determining whether changes or dysfunction in cognition are associated with neurological disease, psychiatric conditions, developmental disorders, medical causes, other non-neurological conditions (e.g., motivational/effort), or a combination of etiologies.
- Monitoring cognition.
- Serial assessment of cognitive changes over time by tracking recovery/improvements or deterioration in cognition and developing a prognosis.
- Planning.
- Offering guidelines for rehabilitation, vocational, and/or educational planning.
- Education.
- Providing guidelines, expectations, and education for treatment providers, caregivers, and family.