If you sustained a brain injury from a crash, fall, blow to the head, or oxygen deprivation, you will likely need neuropsychological testing. This blog explains what neuropsychological testing is and how it is used in brain injury cases.
What is neuropsychological testing?
Neuropsychological testing is an examination that measures how your brain is working. This includes the basic functions of reading, writing, language, processing, reasoning, memory, and others. Neuropsychology can be thought of as a combination of psychiatry, neurology, and psychology. These are the three key specialties that assess the brain’s ability to function. Neuropsychological testing can be used to help reach a diagnosis of your injury. It can also be used to evaluate your cognitive strengths and weaknesses. Finally, it can be used to establish a baseline for you and to help determine what treatment you need going forward.
Why do I need a neuropsychological test?
Following a serious brain injury, you may have difficulty functioning as you previously did. Your memory may be impacted. You may have trouble with word-finding or stuttering. You could even have difficulty with executive function. The worst part is that you may not even realize you are experiencing these problems. A neuropsychological evaluation can help to identify these problems (and others) using standardized testing. These tests are widely used during rehabilitation from your brain injury
Is this testing completely accurate?
As with everything else in life, there are limitations to neuropsychological testing. For example, the person who administers the examination can improperly record the data to make it look like you do NOT have a brain injury. The examiner can also suggest answers to the examinee, which then results in a better score. If this happens, the results may show you have no brain injury, but they are inaccurate. This typically does not happen in neuropsychological examinations that are done by treating physicians. It unfortunately does happen quite often when the defendant in a lawsuit hires an “expert” to perform the testing on you. The defendants do not look for objective, fair experts. They hire the same people in every case who always manage to find a way to conclude the person is not injured. After all, there is a reason the defense attorneys always choose the same people to do the testing. Another issue is that the more you are tested, the less accurate the results are. This is because after taking the tests more than once, you know what to expect and can perform better. These “better” results will not accurately reflect the extent of your brain injury.
Neuropsychological testing can be a very effective tool in a brain injury lawsuit. The results can explain the full extent of your brain injury and will help your treating doctors determine what services or medical treatment you need for the rest of your life. If you have any questions about your brain injury or about neuropsychological testing, contact us today.
