Cognitive remediation
Working on the functions identified as impaired, and building compensation strategies suited to your daily life.
Service · Assessment
The neuropsychological assessment
A neuropsychological assessment is the reference tool for evaluating cognitive functions. Made up of clinical interviews, specific questionnaires and standardised tests, it builds a precise profile of your abilities in order to identify your strengths and understand where difficulties come from. It is offered to children, teenagers, adults and older adults.
Who and why
Who is a neuropsychological assessment for?
The assessment is offered to children, teenagers, adults and older adults who report cognitive or behavioural difficulties.
Its purpose is to establish the nature and severity of those difficulties, and to measure their functional impact in daily life. It can support a decision about treatment, or the setting up of specific adjustments at school or at work.
The functions examined are the ones you use to act every day: attention, memory, language, executive functions, visuospatial and visuoconstructive abilities, gnosis, praxis and social cognition.
Indications
Six situations in which an assessment is particularly useful
Neurodevelopmental conditions
Suspected or established attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), specific learning disorders (dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia and related), autism spectrum disorder, or intellectual developmental disorder.
Acquired brain injury
Assessment of cognitive impairment following a stroke, a traumatic brain injury, anoxia or a brain tumour.
Neurodegenerative conditions
Support for differential diagnosis and monitoring of change over time in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and related syndromes.
Neuropsychiatric conditions
Exploring the cognitive impact associated with mood disorders, psychotic disorders or addiction.
Investigating a cognitive complaint
Measuring the effect of stress, fatigue or a physical illness on higher functions: memory, attention, executive functions.
Identifying specific cognitive profiles
Answering a question about overall functioning, particularly where high intellectual potential, ADHD or an autism spectrum condition may have been compensated for or masked in daily life.
Process
How the assessment is carried out
The work is built in three distinct stages, spread over one to three sessions.
The history-taking interview
45 min to 1 h 30
We take the time to talk about what brings you here, about how your cognition works now and how it worked in the past, and about what you expect from the assessment.
This interview also gathers the important elements of your medical and personal history, and allows me to select the assessment tools best suited to your situation. Depending on the situation, a relative may be present in order to add information.
Administration of tests and scales
1 h 30 to 3 h
You then complete tests examining a range of cognitive functions: memory, attention, language, visuoconstructive abilities, among others.
The tasks take varied forms, mainly on paper or spoken, with some administered on a computer. They are standardised tests: their interpretation rests on published norms, meaning your results are compared with those of a reference group of the same age and educational level.
The feedback interview
45 min to 1 h, one to two weeks after testing
We close the assessment with a feedback interview, to make sense of the results and define concrete next steps. A written report is handed to you at that point.
Preparation
How to prepare for your appointment
A few simple precautions are enough to give the assessment good conditions.
- Bring your glasses, if you wear them.
- Wear your hearing aids, if you use them.
- Come rested.
- Gather the useful documents: list of current medication, medical reports, previous assessments, school reports.
For a home assessment, also plan a quiet room with no passing traffic or background noise, and a clear table. The quality of the testing conditions is part of the reliability of the results.
The right moment
When is it better to postpone the assessment?
To keep the results reliable, some situations call for the assessment to be postponed.
Where the assessment is intended to support a diagnosis (at a doctor’s request, for a specific question or for an administrative file), the person’s health needs to be stable. It is then better to wait for:
- the end of an infection: fever, flu-like illness, extreme fatigue;
- roughly three to six months after a general anaesthetic;
- the stabilisation of medication that has recently been changed.
In those situations cognitive capacity can be temporarily disturbed, and the assessment would risk not reflecting your usual functioning.
The opposite is true when the assessment is part of rehabilitation, after a stroke or a traumatic brain injury, for example. It can then be carried out early: it identifies the current difficulties, guides rehabilitation quickly and adapts the support strategies. The aim is to steer care as early as possible.
If you are unsure, the best moment can be discussed together before booking.
And afterwards?
What the assessment makes possible
Depending on what the assessment identifies, several forms of support can be offered.
Psychotherapy (CBT)
Cognitive behavioural therapy, when the emotional impact is what dominates.
Support for relatives and carers
Time with parents or carers, to give concrete bearings and adjust everyday life.
Social skills training
Working on relational skills in real interaction, in a small closed group, according to profile.
Fees
How much does a neuropsychological assessment cost?
The fee depends on the type of assessment and on the question being explored. The detail for every service is gathered on the fees page, so that the figures are not scattered across the site.
The practice is not contracted with the French statutory health insurance (Assurance Maladie) and does not take part in the “Mon soutien psy” scheme, so sessions are not reimbursed by the state. Many complementary health insurers (a mutuelle in France, or your employer’s scheme if you work in Luxembourg) do refund part of the fee. An itemised receipt is issued after every session. Payment can be spread over several instalments on request.
Payment is by cash, cheque or bank transfer. The practice has no card terminal. For video sessions, the transfer is made before the session and the secure link is sent once it has been received.
Wondering whether an assessment is right for your situation?
Write to me with your contact details, the reason for your request and what you are dealing with. I reply as soon as I can, usually within the week, and we will work out together whether this assessment matches what you are looking for.
Request an appointment