Some disabilities are physical in nature, and they have very little cognitive impact. An example of this could be if someone has experienced a spinal cord injury (SCI), and they are now paralyzed from the waist down. They may still have the same personality and intellectual abilities, but they have lost motor skills as a result of their disability.
But there are other types of disabilities that may not have the same physical impact, but which can have a major cognitive impact. To determine the full scope of this type of disability, neuropsychological evaluations may be necessary. What will these evaluations look for?
Testing brain function
Essentially, this type of evaluation tests an individual’s brain to see how it performs. The test seeks to determine the level of functionality in a multitude of areas. These include things like:
- Personality and mood changes
- Problem-solving abilities
- Reasoning skills
- Potential memory issues
- General brain processing speed
- Attention-related abilities
- Learning abilities
- Reading and language-usage
The thing to remember is that brain injuries and disorders can be quite different from one person to the next. Just because two people have a similar condition does not mean that it’s going to impact their lives in the same way. One person may still have excellent mental processing speed, but they just struggle with their long-term memory. Another person may have a flawless memory, but they may have difficulty reading and processing information.
Both people in these hypothetical examples may qualify for some level of benefits due to their disabilities. They need to know what their legal options are, and this often starts with these neuropsychological evaluations.