Carole J. Symer, Ph.D.

A neuropsychological evaluation offers a means for better understanding your (or your child’s) unique development. The aim is to clarify the specific challenges a person is encountering when trying to meet their personal goals or the demands of school, life, work and relationships. In addition to cognitive and academic skills testing, an evaluation includes an assessment of the coping strategies one is already using. This may include testing of social-emotional areas, as well as (in the
case of a child) a school observation, to provide a window onto one’s capacities and vulnerabilities. Evaluations are followed up with a plan to help you (or your child) succeed in various pursuits at school, work, in relationships and life. Two follow-up meetings are offered to review the results and recommendations in detail. Some people choose to do these follow-ups immediately after the evaluation while others opt to make the second meeting a few months after a few interventions have been tried in order to assess the outcome and tailor the next steps. I include a feedback session with the child, to provide them validation and encouragement, as well as a picture of what they can do to
make learning easier and more successful.

As a neuropsychological evaluator, my areas of expertise include language and reading disorders (e.g., dyslexia), math disabilities, ADHD, executive functioning deficits, memory challenges, academic issues, processing weaknesses, nonverbal learning disorders, autism and pervasive developmental disorders, social-emotional fall-out from trauma, head-injuries, as well as neurological and genetic disorders that impact life and learning. I evaluate adults with concerns about memory, trouble meeting work demands, questions about how to return to school after a gap, or looking to understand how well they are recovering from a neurological condition (e.g., Lyme, stroke, head
injury, or toxic exposure to lead and alcohol).

​

Because each child’s or adult’s struggles are found within social contexts—in the stories of how peers befriend or bully, a family or community offers access to resources, health or social/emotional difficulties are coped with, or potentials are tapped or squashed—what each person experiences is as important as the test scores. The remedies are formulated with each client in mind, based on the
conversations I have with them, parents and family members and not a generic list of recommendations generated from a standard template of interventions.
For more information about these kinds of evaluations, please see the FAQ section of my website.

Given the kinds of questions I have heard expressed by families in consultation and feedback sessions, I have written up additional suggestions to consider: “So now that your child has had a neuropsychological evaluation…now what?” This can be found under “writings.”