Q:What does a psychological report consist
of, and what kind of recommendations should I expect?
A:
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 and memory
Language
Visual-spatial skills
Motor coordination
Behavioral and 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 parents and teachers may also
be obtained. Observing your child to understand his or her motivation,
cooperation, and behavior is a very important part of the evaluation.
Ideally, the neuropsychological report will provide you with a
description of your child's strengths and weaknesses, suggestions
for what you can do to help your child, and recommendations for
educational programming. This will include suggestions to help
your child improve weak skills and suggestions on how to use your
child's strong skills to get around problems created by the weak
skills.
