Services

services

Services Offered

Comprehensive Neuropsychological Evaluation

A neuropsychological evaluation weaves together information from several different sources, including parent reports, input from schools, communication with treatment providers, clinical observations, questionnaires, and structured psychological and neuropsychological tests. Areas explored include cognitive functioning, academic functioning, learning and memory, visual-motor integration, attention, executive functioning, social skills/social cognition, and emotional functioning.

Neuropsychological assessment is often prompted by difficulties in school, such as troubles with test taking, struggles with work production, variable focus, or vulnerabilities with aspects of executive functioning (e.g., planning, organizing, switching gears). Other reasons for neuropsychological assessment include escalating levels of emotional distress (e.g., anxiety, moodiness, irritability) or difficulties in the social domain, such as reduced social perspective taking or challenges with the formation and maintenance of friendships. A neuropsychological evaluation can help get to the root(s) of what is contributing to academic, social, or emotional challenges and can provide detailed recommendations to help ameliorate those challenges.

Annotation 2020-05-30 104731
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Consultation

Aside from neuropsychological assessments, Dr. McCormick also offers hour-long consultation appointments. These appointments can be helpful when additional guidance is required for a client previously assessed by Dr. McCormick. For instance, changes in client’s functioning in the interim since prior testing might prompt the question of whether updated testing or other interventions or referrals are needed. In addition, a consultation can be arranged for clients who, after the initial telephone consult, remain unclear as to whether neuropsychological evaluation is necessary. Finally, this time can be used to review and clarify results of prior testing – either conducted privately by a different practitioner or through school – particularly when, as is sometimes the case, those results raised more questions than answers.

Team Meeting Participation

For school-aged children and adolescents, parents at times find it useful for Dr. McCormick to attend school team meetings after the neuropsychological assessment process is complete. His team meeting participation is particularly important when the neuropsychological test findings are mismatched with observations from school personnel and when recommendations stemming from the neuropsychological assessment are incongruent with the type and intensity of supports and services being offered at school. At team meetings, Dr. McCormick explains the testing results, answers questions from school personnel, details recommendations and rationales for those recommendations, and provides additional guidance to the team in their creation of/update to the student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) or 504-Accommodation Plan.
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School Observation

At the conclusion of the neuropsychological testing process, it sometimes becomes clear that an observation of a student at school – or of a program proposed for a student – is necessary. Children and adolescents can present variably in different contexts, and how a child or adolescent comes across in the testing set might be quite different from how they present in school. For instance, a student with a mild autism spectrum disorder might exhibit reasonably intact interpersonal skills in a one-to-one testing setting, while their social challenges become more apparent within a group of peers. Thus, observation of that student in lunch, physical education, or another less structured time during the day can provide important information about that student’s social presentation and needs beyond what can be gleaned in the testing office. Additionally, a school observation can be useful in evaluating the match between school programming (or proposed programming) and the needs of the child. Thus, particularly when the type of classroom or the types or intensity of services provided at school are highly disparate from recommendations stemming from the neuropsychological assessment, a school observation can be invaluable.