what happens during a neuropsych exam?

[Anonymous]

after a 9 month wait, friday's finally the day. we hope this can shed light on some of our daughter's issues.
what should we expect? what tests do they typically do first? when do the parents usually get feedback? will parents be allowed to observe any of the testing?

[Anonymous]

Where?

[Anonymous]

In my experience, neuropsychs usually begin with something that's more likely to be perceived as "fun" by the kid, whether that's pointing to pictures when you hear a word, recreating things with blocks, or answering interview questions. They want to get rapport well established, and to have kids understand and be motivated by the system they're using, before they hit the things that are the most challenging and anxiety provoking.

Parents might get some comments along the way, but you should get most of the feedback in a meeting at the end.

It is rare for parents to be allowed to observe. The tests they use are somewhat "secure" in that you have to have certain credentials to buy them and ethically you should keep the content secret. People can and do prep their kids for tests, especially the cognitive, and if someone knew exactly which words were going to be on the vocab, or which specific math problems would show up they might teach those specifically and invalidate the results.

[Anonymous]

I can only describe how it worked at stixrud.

On the first day, it was just DH and me meeting with the psychologist. He already knew, generally, what our concerns were, so he asked focused questions to get the information he needed. This meeting lasted about 90 minutes.

On days 2 and 3, my child went back with him and I stayed in the waiting room. DC didn't tell me much about the testing, but it was IQ-type testing -- puzzles and describing pictures, etc. Based on DC's attitude at the end of breaks, it wasn't anything she minded doing.

A week after the testing was done, DH and I went back (without DC) to get the results verbally and ask questions. We met with the psychologist for about 2 hours. We got an explanation of how she did on the various tests and what diagnoses that meant.

4-6 weeks later, we'll get the written report.