Neurobehavioral Health Services
What is the role of a neuropsychologist?
What Is Neuropsychology?
Neuropsychology is a professional specialty concerned with learning and behavior in relationship to a person’s brain. A neuropsychologist is a licensed psychologist with expertise in how learning and behavior are associated with the development of brain structures and systems.
They provide formal testing of abilities such as memory, attention, motor, and language skills that assess brain functioning. The neuropsychologist conducts the evaluation, interprets the test results, and makes recommendations based on their findings.
What Is a Neuropsychological Assessment?
Neuropsychological assessment can help when learning, attention, or behavior problems occur with medical problems that impact brain development, or when there is a sudden or unexplained change in a someone’s functioning.
Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. In some cases, a person may struggle in certain areas, making school, work, and other activities more difficult. In other cases, a medical condition and/or its treatment affects cognition, or one’s ability to learn and process information.
We integrate detailed neuropsychological data with medical, educational, and psychosocial information to create a profile of strengths and weaknesses that our patients, their care providers, their families, and their educators can use to direct and promote growth. Please read our FAQ page if you have questions about what is involved in clinical assessment.
Why Is Neuropsychology Important?
Neuropsychological assessment can help when learning, attention, or behavior problems occur with medical problems that impact brain development, or when there is a sudden or unexplained change in an individual’s functioning.
What Is Assessed?
A typical neuropsychological evaluation of an individual may assess these areas:
- General intellect
- Achievement skills, such as reading and math
- Executive skills, such as organization, planning, inhibition, and flexibility
- Attention
- Learning and memory
- Language
- Visual–spatial skills
- Motor coordination
- Behavioral and emotional functioning
- Social skills
Which service are you interested in? Click below to learn more.
Early Childhood Development
Ages 2-4
Pediatric Assessment
Ages 5-21
Adult Assessment
Ages 18-64
Geriatric Assessment
Ages 65 and older
Therapy
Pediatric and family focused.
FUN FACTS:
Did you know that our emotions affect our physical health, and our physical health affects our emotions? They’re not distinct things as people once thought!
Early Developmental Childhood Clinic (Ages 2-4)
The Dirksen Center offers evaluations for children beginning at 2 years of age to provide parents with the information and recommendations they need about their young child’s development. These developmental evaluations typically include assessment of cognitive, speech, motor, behavioral, and/or social-emotional functioning.
Parents may have concerns about their child’s development, social skills, and early academic skills or perhaps their pediatrician has raised a concern or maybe their child’s development seems out of step with other children they know. Whatever the reason, early assessment is important because it leads to early intervention, and the earlier the intervention, the better the outcome.
Benefits of Early Assessment:
- Identification of strengths and weaknesses
- Diagnosis, if appropriate, to guide treatment and early intervention
- Generation of recommendations and referrals to appropriate providers
- Offers parents information regarding community resources and supports
- Provides a way to monitor development and progress over time
Pediatric Neuropsychological assessment (Ages 5-21)
Pediatric neuropsychology is a professional specialty concerned with learning and behavior in relationship to a person’s brain, more specifically in children.
Why Are Children Referred for Neuropsychological Assessment?
Children are referred by a doctor, teacher, school psychologist, or other professionals because of one or more problems, such as:
- Difficulty in learning, attention, behavior, socialization, or emotional control; A disease or inborn developmental problem that affects the brain in some way; or a brain injury from an accident, birth trauma, or other physical stress.
What Will the Results Tell Me About My Child?
By comparing your child’s test scores to scores of children of similar ages, the neuropsychologist can create a profile of your child’s strengths and weaknesses. The results help those involved in your child’s care in a number of ways.
- Testing can explain why your child is having school problems. For example, a child may have difficulty reading because of an attention problem, a language disorder, an auditory processing problem, or a reading disability.
- Testing also guides the pediatric neuropsychologist’s design of interventions to draw upon your child’s strengths. The results identify what skills to work on, as well as which strategies to use to help your child.
- Testing can help detect the effects of developmental, neurological, and medical problems, such as epilepsy, autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, or a genetic disorder.
- Testing may be done to obtain a baseline against which to measure the outcome of treatment or the child’s development over time.
- Different childhood disorders may result in specific patterns of strengths and weaknesses. These profiles of abilities can help identify a child’s disorder and the brain areas that are involved. For example, testing can help differentiate between an attention deficit and depression or determine whether a language delay is due to a problem in producing speech, understanding or expressing language, social shyness, autism, or cognitive delay. Your neuropsychologist may work with your physician to combine results from medical tests, such as brain imaging or blood tests, to aid with diagnosis.
How Does a Neuropsychological Evaluation Differ From a School Psychological Assessment?
School assessments are usually performed to determine whether a child qualifies for special education programs or therapies to enhance school performance. They focus on achievement and skills needed for academic success. Generally, they do not medically diagnose learning or behavior disorders caused by altered brain function or development.
Most importantly, testing provides a better understanding of the child’s behavior and learning in school, at home, and in the community. The evaluation can guide teachers, therapists, and you to better help your child achieve his or her potential.
Additionally, the Dirksen Center offers assessments for concussions, caring for kids after cancer, and independent educational evaluations.
Adult Neuropsychological assessment (Ages 18-64)
Why Are Adults Referred for Neuropsychological Assessment?
Adults are referred by a doctor or psychologist because of one or more problems, such as:
- Difficulty in attention, learning, behavior, socialization, or emotional control; A disease or other medical condition that affects the brain in some way; or a brain injury from an accident, trauma, or other physical stressor.
What Will the Results Tell Me?
By comparing a person’s test scores to scores of adults of similar ages, the neuropsychologist can create a profile of strengths and weaknesses. The results help those involved in that person’s care in a number of ways.
- Testing helps detect the effects of developmental, neurological, and medical problems, such as attentional disorders, Multiple Sclerosis, epilepsy, migraines, stroke, TBIs.
- Testing may be done to obtain a baseline against which to measure the outcome of treatment or track progression over time.
Different disorders result in specific patterns of strengths and weaknesses. These profiles of abilities can help identify a disorder and the brain areas that are involved. For example, concerns regarding cognitive function (thinking, attention).
- Your neuropsychologist may work with your physician to combine results from medical tests, such as brain imaging or blood tests, to aid in diagnosis.
Altogether, testing provides a better understanding of the person’s behavior and learning at home and in the community. The evaluation can guide doctors and therapists to better help you or your loved one with the appropriate treatment planning.
geriatric Neuropsychological assessment (Ages 65+)
Why Are geriatric Adults Referred for Neuropsychological Assessment?
Geriatric adults are referred by a doctor because of one or more problems, such as:
- Problems with memory, diagnosing and tracking neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., Dementia, Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinsons), and tracking changes due to trauma (such as stroke, traumatic brain injuries, concussions).
What Will the Results Tell Me?
By comparing a person’s test scores to scores of adults of similar ages, the neuropsychologist can create a cognitive profile. The results help those involved in that person’s care in a number of ways.
- Testing can help detect the effects of neurological and medical problems.
- Testing may be done to obtain a baseline against which to measure the outcome of treatment or track progression.
- Different disorders result in specific cognitive profiles. These profiles can help identify a disorder and the areas that are involved in the brain. For instance, whether cognitive changes may be associated with typical aging compared to those associated with progressive neurodegerative diseases (Dementia, Alzheimer’s, Etc.).
- Your neuropsychologist will work with your physician to combine results from medical tests, such as brain imaging or blood tests, to aid with diagnosis.
Most importantly, testing provides a better understanding of the person’s behavior and learning at home and in the community. The evaluation can guide doctors to better help your loved one with support services and care plans.
FUN FACTS:
Did you know that the right side of your brain controls the left side of your body, and the left side of the brain controls the right side of your body? No one really understands why, that’s just the way it is.
Behavioral Management and Psychotherapy
Our therapists, Dr. Murphy and Dr. Klostermann, are licensed clinical psychologists who bring a wealth of experience to their work with children and families. Our therapists work together with you to understand your child’s or your family’s challenges and identify goals for treatment. Our psychologists have varied areas of expertise that include anxiety, depression, healthy psychology and chronic illness, grief and loss due to death or divorce, parent-child conflict, sibling conflict, OCD, panic disorder, school refusal, coping and stress management, tic disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders such as ADHD and learning disabilities, and behavioral concerns across developmental stages.
Concussion Care
Sustaining a concussion can cause a lot of disruption in a person’s life. Our neuropsychologists work with families and schools to determine the best Return to Learn plans to support students when they’re out of school and when they return after a specific period of time, or gradually over the course of several days. Our assessments identify cognitive areas that might have been affected and accommodations that are necessary within the school environment to promote recovery and progress. Over the long term, if cognitive symptoms persist, our clinicians provide detailed information about those areas and recommend necessary interventions to help each child, adolescent, or young adult get back to life.
Care for Kids After Cancer
Dr. Dirksen has specialized training in assessing and caring for the neurodevelopment of kids after cancer. Treatments used often cause cognitive difficulties. Sometimes those difficulties are apparent during or right after treatment, and at other times, long after treatment has ended.
Because a child’s brain is a “work in progress,” the full effects of treatment on cognitive function are not always clear until long after the child has finished treatment. These are referred to as the cognitive late effects of treatment.
In 2013, the Dirksen Center was awarded a grant from SurvivorVision to deliver these much-needed services to children who are unfunded or underfunded and without insurance coverage.
Independent Evaluations
The Dirksen Center is honored to work with families and school districts to provide independent and objective evaluations. We appreciate the opportunity to help families and school staff identify what services and supports their student needs to be successful.
IEE assessments are tailored to address the specific questions of each family and school. Feedback sessions are offered to both parents and the school staff. A full and comprehensive report, data tables, and participation in an IEP or MDEC meeting is included in the cost of the assessment. DCN is sensitive to the fact that IEEs need to be completed expeditiously; we work closely with the family and school district to accommodate those important deadlines.
What Should I Tell My Child Before the Visit?
Most children are just relieved to know that there won’t be any shots! Many parents like to tell their child a little about what they’ll be doing. Explain to them that they’ll be working with someone one-on-one and will be doing a lot of different things like answering questions, drawing, putting together puzzles, listening, playing games, and talking about the things they like and don’t like.
What Will the Neuro-psychological Report Tell Me?
You will review the results of the assessment at your feedback appointment, and a full report will follow.
The neuropsychological report will summarize your child’s history, the reason for the assessment, the results of the assessment, your child’s strengths and weaknesses and recommendations for home, school and other care providers.
What Happens in Therapy?
Parents and children work with their psychologist to find better ways of doing things, build skills, and solve problems you might be experiencing in everyday life. The amount of parent involvement depends on the age of the child and reason for therapy.
FUN FACTS:
Ever heard about the fact that we only use 10% of our brain’s capacity? Well it’s actually not true! Every single part of our brain does something.
The Right Choice
Founded in 2009, Dirksen Center provides excellent, compassionate care to people of all ages. We help people plan for the future, maximize potential, encourage continued development. We welcome families and collaborate with physicians and other professionals from across metropolitan Chicago, and we look forward to working with you!
Office Hours: Monday - Friday 8:30AM-4:00PM
Clinician Hours: Vary based on clinician
PAYMENT
Please call our office to make a payment by credit card or send payment via Zelle to info@dirksencenter.com