Neurocognitive Testing

Neurocognitive Testing

Life Changes Group offers comprehensive neuro- and social- cognitive testing. Assessments include all age categories, individuals from different cultural backgrounds, and different diagnostic challenges and conditions. Neuropsychological tests are designed to examine a variety of cognitive abilities to assess potential difficulties (executive function, memory, language, attention, speed of processing, social cognition) and access underlying etiologies. Diagnoses can shed light on learning disabilities, neuropsychiatric disorders, neurodegenerative disorders (e.g., dementia, vascular disorders, Parkinson’s disease), seizure disorders, infectious disease affecting the CNS, metabolic disease, traumatic brain injury, neurodevelopmental disorders, and neurological effects of medical disorders or treatment. including speed of information processing, attention, memory, language, and executive functions, which are necessary for goal-directed behavior. By testing a range of cognitive abilities and examining patterns of performance in different cognitive areas, a neuropsychologist can make inferences about underlying brain function. If you struggle at school and/or work, find it difficult to be attentive or to organize things, if you struggle to find words or ruminate on things for a long time, if you find it hard to relate to others or you feel misunderstood, if you had an accident or an illness and now feel tired or unable to think, or if you just feel like you want to know what you are good at, you might want to consider clinical neuropsychological testing. Clinical neuropsychology addresses brain-behavior relationships and can answer questions like:

  • Does my child meet all developmental milestones?
  • My child has been exposed to drugs, alcohol or illness in-utero, how is her functioning?
  • I struggle at school and am not sure why, or how I can improve my functioning. What is wrong?
  • I struggle with words/numbers, do I have learning disability?
  • I had a brain injury, what happened to my cognition?
  • I have a neurological disease (e.g., Parkinson’s Disease), what does it do to my cognition?
  • I have been exposed to chemicals or toxins, how does my cognition change?
  • What happens to my brain if I abuse substances?
  • What career would be the best fit for me?
  • What is my general cognitive functioning?
  • I struggle with extreme sadness, apathy, and/or disturbing happiness, does this influence my cognition?
  • I struggle socially; do I have deficits in social cognition?
  • My thoughts are constantly disorganized, what can I do?
  • Am I gifted?

Clinical neuropsychology provides quantifiable data about the following aspects of cognition:

1) Neurocognitive functioning:

  • Attention, concentration, and distractibility
  • Ability to learn new skills and solve problems
  • Short-term and long-term memory
  • Logical and abstract reasoning functions
  • Visual-spatial organization Visual-motor coordination
  • Ability to understand and express language

2) Personality and its influence on cognition:

  • Assessment of personality features (e.g., extraversion, emotional stability,
  • Assessment of personality disorders

3) Social cognitive functioning:

  • Emotion recognition
  • Emotion expression
  • Emotion regulation
  • The use of coping strategies
  • Interpersonal functioning
  • Intrapersonal functioning

4) Creativity:

  • Type of creativity
  • Quantity of creativity
  • The creative personality
  • The creative functioning

At Life Changes Group we strive to address  aspects of the individual and his/her environment in tandem. Cognition, emotion, and personality are interactive forces that influence much of our daily functioning.

Our multidisciplinary staff has worked with hundreds of families to support requests for accommodations on standardized testing, including the ERBs, MCAS, SSAT, SAT, LSAT, GMAT, and MCAT. Given the complicated nature of neurocognitive evaluations, Life Changes provides comprehensive and comprehensible, strength-based reports that identify the “cognitive fingerprint” underlying your or your child’s learning style. Appointments consist of an intake interview in which a thorough history will be gathered to be able to prepare the most accurate testing materials for the upcoming testing session. Assessments are completed in a timely and professional manner and include initial interviews, record review, evaluation, written report, and 45-60 minute feedback. Our providers will also travel to schools to discuss testing results and advocate for children’s specific needs when requested.