What is a Neuropsychological Assessment?
A pediatric, or child, neuropsychological assessment is a type of evaluation that helps families and schools understand how medical conditions impact a child’s brain development and their thinking and learning skills. This includes conditions such as hydrocephalus, acquired brain injuries (ABI), spina bifida, epilepsy, stroke, phenylketonuria (PKU), prematurity, or exposure to drugs and alcohol before birth. The results from a neuropsychological assessment can help understand why a child is struggling to learn and what support they need to succeed in school and everyday activities.
A neuropsychological assessment can also be helpful for children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders such as a learning disability (LD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) where a comprehensive understanding of their learning needs is required.
As part of this comprehensive assessment, your child will complete activities that assess a range of cognitive and academic skills, including:
- Overall intellectual abilities
- Attention
- Learning and memory
- Receptive and Expressive language skills
- Executive Function skills such as planning and problem solving
- Motor skills
- Visual-spatial skills
- Academic skills
- Social, emotional, and behavioural functioning
- Adaptive or life skills
Together with a detailed review of your child’s medical and school history, the results of a neuropsychological assessment provide a profile of cognitive and academic strengths and weaknesses that helps explain why your child may be having difficulty either at school, socially, or in completing day-to-day activities. When appropriate, a diagnosis may be made (e.g., Learning Disability, ADHD, Intellectual Disability).
Recommendations for treatment, or strategies to support your child at school and/or at home, are provided and based on your child’s unique cognitive profile. When relevant, education is also provided regarding you and your child’s adjustment to the challenges that can arise from conditions that affect brain development.
When requested, consultation with your child’s school to assist in academic programming and planning can occur at an additional hourly fee.
More information about pediatric neuropsychology can be found here: https://scn40.org/wp-content/uploads/pedneuropscyhbroch3-eng.pdf
What to expect
- Intake interview to discuss your child’s developmental, medical, and academic history (a separate interview may also be conducted with your child, depending on their age)
- Approximately 8 hours of formal testing in-person with your child (this can be broken into several sessions
- A feedback session to discuss the results and recommendations from the assessment
- A formal report outlining the assessment results and any recommendations that are made
- Consultation with schools is available for an additional fee (based on an hourly rate).
London Child Neuropsychology 