Neuropsychological Evaluations
in Denver & colorado springs

Neuropsychological testing & evaluations are an assessment of how the brain functions in various cognitive domains. The combination of the words Neuro and Psychology indicates that both neurocognitive (brain functioning) and psychological/mental health factors are assessed within this evaluation. A common question we are asked is if instrumentation is used to place on the head or body to measure internal processes. In contrast to imaging tests conducted at a neurologist or doctor’s office that require instrumentation to be placed on the head or body, our testing process in Denver and Colorado Springs does not require this sort of instrumentation.

Neuropsychological testing & evaluations are primarily comprised of an interview and a series of performance-based tests and questionnaires.  The majority of tests are paper and pencil tests, with some tests requiring verbal responses to confirm your answer. Thus, when people ask what they should bring to our evaluations in Denver and Colorado Springs, the most important thing to bring is your brain! Otherwise, we will provide everything else that is needed to initiate neuro cognitive testing.

Neuropsychological testing can be divided into three portions: the interview, psychological testing, and neurocognitive testing.  The interview will consist of the examiner asking you questions about your symptoms and relevant background information.  The neuropsychological testing & evaluation portion can determine the presence of personality disorders and/or mental health disorders.  Testing for personality and mental health disorders is an important part of the neuropsychological evaluation, although some people are initially confused as to why we assess for mental health concerns. The reason to test for mental health symptoms is that various mental health presentations can contribute to impaired cognitive functioning and can even sometimes mimic certain neurological or medical conditions.  Thus, it is important for us to determine if these disorders are present, and to determine the impact they might have upon your cognitive functioning.  Next, neuropsychological testing measures the functioning of your brain in areas such as attention, memory, visual-spatial reasoning, learning, executive functioning, language, processing speed, and fine motor functioning.  This portion of testing constitutes the majority of the evaluation, and it can be somewhat fatiguing for many individuals.

The emphasis of neuropsychological testing & evaluation is to determine the brain’s ability to function in these various areas. This is in contrast to testing/imaging you may receive at a neurologist’s office where your doctor might take a picture of your brain to determine the presence of something abnormal.  In contrast, our evaluations in Denver and Colorado Springs focus on how the brain is able to function when given various tasks to perform.