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Description of Services Fees
Neuropsychological evaluation is a systematic assessment
of brain-behavior relationships. The areas of functioning that are
evaluated include attention, learning, memory, language, visuospatial,
and sensory-motor processes. Metacognitive skills such as planning,
organization, and problem-solving are also systematically tested.
These evaluations are based upon the highest scientific integrity,
and the administration of these assessments requires highly specialized
training and expertise, well beyond the educational experiences
of the typical clinical or school psychologist.
Over the past several decades, our understanding of how various
aspects of thinking and behavior are organized within the brain
has been generated by the neuroscience disciplines. Neuropsychology
is one such representative field. Our understanding of attention,
learning, memory, reading, math, and related functions has come
from cognitive assessment and the integration of the results with
a scientific knowledge base. Neuropsychological assessment is not
a gimmick, it is not a"snake oil" potion, and it is not
a panacea or cure all. However, it is the best clinical and scientific
methodology for identifying and characterizing brain-related scholastic,
achievement, and adaptation problems. If you are interested in accurate
diagnosis, success, and in identifying and understanding that which
stands in its way, then you should consider this type of evaluation.
Why is pediatric neuropsychological evaluation
necessary?
When a child is evaluated for the first time, it is essential to
formulate an accurate diagnosis and treatment plan to get the child
on the right track, to point him/her in the proper direction, and
to provide the optimal type of treatment support.Many children have
histories of being "tested" multiple times, either within
school systems or by general psychological/behavioral practitioners,
while it is never clear what the diagnosis is and what can or should
be done about the vaguely defined problem. Misdiagnosis often occurs
because the original evaluation did not center around understanding
brain-behavior relationships, or because the diagnosis was based
upon an overly simplistic interpretation of summary test scores."Scores"
DO NOT identify a child's innate ability. The "score"
does not equal the ability. A "score" merely states how
a child performed on a test, relative to other children.
Problems with attention, learning and memory, planning and organization,
task completion, and motivation and persistence are not easily found
by measuring global levels of achievement in reading, spelling,
arithmetic, or tests of knowledge in other academic areas. Knowing
what a child has achieved is a conclusion based upon comparing the
child to other children, but this says nothing about the reason
for that level of achievement.
A neuropsychological evaluation is a cognitive assessment that looks
at all of the subcomponent skills that are necessary for successful
functioning.In this type of evaluation, the results will not only
identify how well or how poorly a child reads, spells, does math,
or pays attention, etc., but also indicates why. Knowing how and
why a child has trouble paying attention, learning, reading, etc.,
are the essential keys to identifying what should be done about
the problem. In addition, Dr. Koziol's evaluation includes a standardized
behavioral history review. One of the purposes of obtaining this
information is to explain how the behaviors are a manifestation
of the test findings, relating to the child's cognitive or brain-related
functioning. This results in a highly integrated, synthesized description
and understanding of the child that is not frequently seen in other
behavioral disciplines.
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Dr. Koziol: Koziol@HOSTZONE.COM |
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