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About Neuropsychological Evaluation

Neurological, medical, genetic and developmental disorders are caused by or result in difficulties with the brain and nervous system.  Children who are affected can have trouble with things such as learning, memory, speaking, hearing and mood.

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

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

The specialists at the Psychology Assessment Center have experience working with children with a variety of these disorders including the following:

Neurological/Medical disorders: 

  • Epilepsy
  • Hematologic/Oncologic diagnoses (including brain tumors, leukemia)
  • Leukodystrophies
  • Movement disorders (including Multiple Sclerosis)
  • Stroje
  • Traumatic brain injury
  • Tourette’s syndrome

Psychiatric disorders:

  • Anxiety disorders
  • Mood disorders
  • Oppositional defiant disorder/conduct disorder
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder
  • Substance abuse


Developmental disorders:

  • Autism spectrum disorders
  • Attention deficit disorder
  • Language disorders
  • Learning disabilities
  • Intellectual impairment
  • Prenatal substance exposure
  • Developmental difficulties that may be associated with factors such as adoption, malnutrition, prematurity/ low birthweight, trauma

Genetic disorders:

  • Angelman’s Syndrome
  • Chromosome anomaly
  • Down syndrome
  • Fragile X
  • Maple syrup urine disease
  • Neurofibromatosis
  • Phenylketonuria
  • Tuberous sclerosis
  • Turner’s syndrome
  • William’s syndrome

Our Approach

Our pediatric neuropsychologists rely on a child-centered approach to analyze a child’s individual strengths and weaknesses and how these affect his/her functioning and learning on a day-to-day basis. An extensive evaluation is provided. Some abilities may be measured in more detail than others, depending on the child’s specific needs. Observing the child to understand his/her motivation, cooperation and behavior is also a very important part of the evaluation.

There are some similarities amongst children with certain disorders (for example, ADHD or dyslexia) and medical conditions (for example, brain tumors or epilepsy), but pediatric neuropsychologists are careful to determine each child’s unique characteristics and background in order to understand his/her profile and provide the most appropriate recommendations.

A comprehensive report is provided detailing how a child’s neuropsychological profile affects his/her functioning in all relevant domains (cognitive, academic, psychological, social, family). Detailed recommendations are provided to help make use of the testing in the child’s daily activities, including school.

Education is considered such an important aspect of the child’s functioning that the Psychology Assessment Center also provides the services of an Educational Specialist who can assist with recommendations tailored to the child’s specific school curriculum. Additional educational testing, direct consultation with your child’s school and the development of individual education services can be provided.

Insurance Coverage

Most health insurances cover neuropsychological assessment when the child has an underlying medical disorder.  However, this is typically not the case for evaluations of learning disabilities. In these cases, it is sometimes possible to request that the child’s school cover the cost of an independent (second, outside) evaluation.  If you choose to pay for the evaluation yourself, you will be asked to sign a waiver agreeing to pay the cost of the evaluation.