Neuropsychological assessments
A neuropsychological assessment measures cognitive function against standardised norms. It produces test data across defined domains rather than a clinical impression, which is what distinguishes it from a psychiatric examination.
Report scope
What this report is for
The assessment covers domains such as memory, attention, processing speed, language and executive function. Scores are compared with normative data and, where available, with the person’s estimated pre-morbid level, so the report describes change rather than absolute ability.
Performance validity testing is a standard part of the battery. It addresses whether the results can be relied on as a measure of ability, and a report without it leaves that question open.
These assessments are relied on in brain injury claims, in capacity questions where the impairment is cognitive, in educational and SEND matters, and in criminal proceedings where a defendant’s cognitive function is in issue.
The precise remit, documents and assumptions should be settled in the letter of instruction. An expert’s opinion is confined to their own discipline and the material provided.
Instruction requirements
A focused route to usable evidence
Test data has a shelf life and repeat testing within too short an interval carries practice effects. The timing of the assessment is part of what makes it usable.
The cognitive question
Identify what the assessment is to establish.
Pre-morbid material
Education, occupational and school records support the comparison.
Previous testing
Prior assessments affect both interpretation and timing.
Interpreter needs
Language and cultural factors bear on which tests are valid.
Use the register to identify a suitable discipline, then agree the scope directly.
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Where this report sits
condition and prognosis reports and capacity assessments commonly sit alongside this assessment, which supplies the measured data those opinions rest on.
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