Neuropsychological Testing Explanations
Neuropsychological Testing โ What Each Evaluation Involves
Every evaluation is built around a question. The instruments used and the depth of the analysis follow from what you’re trying to find out.
This page explains what each kind of evaluation involves and how the process runs, so you know what you’re agreeing to before you agree to it.
How it works โ you come here once (usually)
One day in the office. Everything else happens from wherever you are.
- Diagnostic interview โ remote. We start with the history. Yours, or your child’s. This is a conversation, not a test, and there’s no reason to drive for it.
- Inventories โ sent to you and those who know you best. Questionnaires and rating scales you complete at home, on your own time, sometimes before you ever come in.
- Testing โ one day, in person, at 1120 McKendrie Street in San Jose. This is the only trip most of the time. If we need more time, we take more time. If we need more sessions, we do them.
- Feedback โ remote. We go through what the testing found and what it means.
- Second feedback โ remote. Sometimes new clinical information comes to light, or we need input from other professionals, or the analysis simply needs to go deeper. Those sessions are here when needed.
Some testing can be proctored online where that’s appropriate to the instrument and the question. Some cannot, and shouldn’t be.
Why one full day instead of a few short ones
The testing day is built to look like a real work day, school day, or the day of the “life-changing exam” โ and that’s the whole point.
What you’re trying to understand doesn’t always show up in the first ninety minutes, when everyone is fresh and the material is still new. It may not manifest until hour four โ when attention has been spent, when fatigue and anxiety are running high, when the thing you’ve been compensating for finally surfaces, when effort has to be sustained on an empty tank. Test someone for a single fresh hour and you learn how they do for a single fresh hour, which isn’t really what you came to find out.
Spreading testing across several short visits sounds like it might be gentler, or even more thorough. In practice it usually adds noise rather than removing it. A rough night’s sleep before day two, a great mood on day three, practice effects between sessions, conditions that never quite repeat โ you can end up measuring the day’s influence instead of the person.
That said, it isn’t one-size-fits-all. Some test batteries are designed to run across multiple sessions, and when that’s the right approach for you, we’ll tell you.
One day, steady conditions, sustained demand. It asks more of you โ because that’s what the real world asks of you, and that’s exactly what we’re here to measure.
Neuropsychological evaluation
Neuropsychological testing measures how you think, and how fast. It uses intelligence tests, academic tests, learning and memory tests, effort tests, symptom validity tests, attention tests, speeded tests, motor-based tests, visual and perceptual tests, constructional tests, calculation tests, executive functioning tests, and computerized measures of brain function.
The purpose is to determine the level of functioning you have from a cognitive perspective โ your current diagnosis, and the severity of any deficits following an injury or a change.
Scores are what make this useful. A verbal description of a problem is not enough for a school, a court, or an insurer. Testing produces a rating โ much like numbers on a thermometer โ by comparing your results against people who don’t struggle with what you struggle with. That comparison is what tells us how severe something actually is.
ADHD evaluation
ADHD is most accurately identified by measurement, not impression โ testing that captures attention, effort, and executive functioning, and establishing that the pattern has been present in more than one setting over time. The research backs this up: statistical (actuarial) measurement outperforms clinical judgment alone by a considerable margin.
Full detail on ADHD evaluation, including what else produces the same symptoms.
Autism evaluation โ children and adults
The scope depends on presentation and on what the evaluation needs to accomplish โ Regional Center, an IEP, a 504 plan, or simply an answer.
Adult autism evaluations are different from children’s, and require more historical reconstruction and less cognitive testing.
Full detail on autism evaluation for adults and children.
Learning disability evaluation
A learning disability assessment is a full battery of neuropsychological testing that measures your approach toward learning. It includes intelligence, academic functioning, learning and memory, attention, mental health variables, effort and test-taking approach, and executive functioning โ plus visual-motor ability, adaptive functioning, and broader neuropsychological functioning where applicable.
This covers dyslexia (reading disorder), dyscalculia (mathematics disorder), and disorders of written expression.
The reason it takes a full day is that a learning disability is defined by a pattern of what is there and what is not there โ with other explanations ruled out.
Mental health evaluation
An in-depth combination of interviewing and psychometric testing targeted at mental health functioning. This is the most tailored of the evaluations โ the battery is built around the specific presentation rather than run to a template.
In some cases, observation over time is required, and no amount of testing on a single day substitutes for it. We’ll tell you if that’s your situation. We can make this remote unless cognitive testing is involved.
Forensic and accommodation evaluations
Evaluations for legal, administrative, and testing-accommodation purposes vary in type and depend on the referral question, the complexity of the matter, and input from counsel or the court.
Legal matters include family law, criminal law, probate, civil, personal injury, capacity hearings, criminal sentence mitigation, SSI and SSDI applications and appeals, CA Penal Code ยง1001.36 mental health diversion, licensure revocation, and juvenile dependency DFCS/CPS evaluations.
Full detail on forensic evaluation and expert testimony.
Testing accommodations
Each of these has its own documentation policy, its own deadlines, and its own reviewers. The links go to the official requirements โ read the one that applies to you.
- MCAT โ and why applications get rejected
- LSAT
- California Bar
- MPRE
- USMLE
- GRE
- SAT
- ACT
- GED
- EPPP / CA Board of Psychology
- Medical Board accommodations and revocations
- Psychology Board accommodations and revocations
Also: university, community college, and private school accommodations; workplace accommodations; and challenging school district determinations.
How long the report takes
Between 7 and 30 business days once your case is closed, depending on the severity and complexity of the case. You’ll get an estimated timeline during the process, not after it.
One thing worth stating plainly: the evaluation is complete when the opinion is rendered, whether or not a written report is produced. Some questions are answered without a report. Some require one. That’s determined by what you need it for, and you’ll know which before you start.
What it costs
Diagnostic evaluations run $6,500 to $7,500, depending on complexity. Court-related and accommodation evaluations are quoted individually. Here’s how fees work, including why an evaluation costs what it does and what a PPO typically reimburses.
Start here
Call or text: 321-208-1554 or 321-298-8668
Tell us the question you’re trying to answer. We’ll tell you which evaluation fits, how long it takes, what it costs, and what it can and can’t answer.
No pressure at any point. Some people who call don’t need an evaluation at all, and we tell them so.