Week Two - Neuropsychological Assessment & Diagnosis

Question 1

What is the most important reason to conduct an assessment?

Answer 1

The diagnose/decide on a clinical category

Question 2

What initiates a psych assessment?

Answer 2

The referral

Question 3

What should you research about the condition on the referral?

Answer 3

Behaviours
Physical limitations
Cognitive profile
Everyday functioning

Support services
Treatment

Question 4

What/where should you gather information about a patient?

Answer 4

School 
Medical history
Employment
Family members (especially with people with serious conditions)
Mental health history
Prior assessment reports (if applicable)

Question 5

What other information is very important/valuable to obtain?

Answer 5

Past radiology reports (CT and MRI).

Question 6

What 4 things do we want to gather from a clinical interview?

Answer 6

History/clinical issues
Data
What was the person like beforehand
behaviour observation

Question 7

What is Sensitivity in assessment?

Answer 7

The probability that a test correctly identifies a clinical category given they actually DO have it

True positive

Question 8

What is Specificity in assessment?

Answer 8

The probability that the test correctly detects or classifies a normal performance - they do not have the condition

True negatives

Question 9

Important first question to ask during interview?

Answer 9

“do you know why you are here” - allows us to see their level of insight into their difficulties

Question 10

What do we need to consider when trying to optimise performance during testing?

Answer 10

Internal (eg anxiety) and external factors (eg place)

Question 11

Tests that we use need to have?

Answer 11

Normative data

Extracted from a population

Standardisation

Question 12

What do you need to follow to adhere to standard procedures?

Answer 12

Exact wording
Test materials
Time limits
Scoring rules

Question 13

What is premorbid functioning? Why do we need to know it?

Answer 13

Functioning prior to condition

Gives insight into their decline levels and enables comparisons

Question 14

How do we assess premorbid functioning?

Answer 14

Self-report (not reliable tho)
school/employment records
formal testing

Question 15

What are the first aspects of intelligence to be impacted in brain injury?

Answer 15

Processing speed and working memory

Question 16

What intellectual functioning is most preserved following injury to brain?

Answer 16

Verbal

Question 17

What is confrontation naming?

Answer 17

The inability to name everYday objects

Question 18

What are the two forms of apraxia?

Answer 18

IDEATIONAL:unable to plan movements related to interaction with objects
IDEOMOTOR: motor planning, mimicking

Question 19

What do we test in assessments/tests?

Answer 19

Attention
Language
Motor functioning
Visuospatial ability
Learning and Memory
Social cognition
Executive functioning (sometimes not)
Planning & problem solving
Cognitive flexibility
Inhibition
Malingering

Question 20

What are some forms of motor functioning tests?

Answer 20

Finger oscillation
Grip strength
Dexterity

Question 21

Controlled oral word association test can help with what? (idea generation)

Answer 21

Differentiating frontal and temporal lobe damage

Question 22

Someone with more frontal lobe damage is more likely to have difficulties in what fluency?

Answer 22

Letter fluency

Question 23

Someone with more temporal lobe damage is more likely to have difficulties in what fluency?

Answer 23

sematic fluency

Question 24

What is a Malingering test?

Answer 24

Test to see if someone is putting in their full effort