Neuropsychological Testing as a Means of Planning Rehabilitation Programs

Abstract

Clinical neuropsychology has traditionally been concerned with the assessment of individuals who have brain lesions and the state of their cognitive, perceptual, and motor skills. Such assessments have been conducted at varying levels, ranging from prediction of presence or absence of brain damage based on a single indicator, to prediction of type and locus of lesion from the results of an extensive series of tests. The former kind of procedure, although generally rapidly and efficiently accomplished, has received much criticism because of its failure to elicit underlying brain mechanisms as well as its limited capacity to describe the pattern of preserved and impaired abilities found in the brain-damaged individual. Thus, the neuropsychological testbattery approach has become increasingly popular in recent years as a means of assessing functioning on an individual basis (Filskov & Boll, 1981). Correspondingly, neuropsychological testing has tended to become an area of specialization within the broader field of psychological testing.