Hi....
I haven't read the other replies, so forgive me if this is redundant, lol.

I do not have a Brain Injury or Concussion syndrome, but I have epilepsy and my neurologist was noticing some cognitive issues; and I had never had any Neuro Pysch testing done so he referred me to a Neuro Psych for testing and such.

I had several sessions with the Neuro Psychologist-- the first was an initial interview; then was the actual neuro psych testing, and finally the results session.

To the poster who is dreading the testing, I actually found it very interesting. The testing tests cognitive abilities, memory ---and specific types, IQ, other details of the way your brain functions, shows your strengths and weakness. Neuro Psych testing can also uncover any type of learning disabilities, cognitive issues, and other things. Then, the neuro pysch---at your results session, can help you find ways to deal with them, improve your skills, and other really helpful stuff.

My neuro psych testing revealed an uncommon learning disabilty; that I had trouble with certain types of memory, that I was really good at other things; along with the IQ. Some of the results were difficult to hear, but it helped me and my doctors understand how my brain functions which in turn helps them understand why i do the things I do and how to better help and communicate with me. Also, since it discovered the learning disabilty, I was able to get certain accomodations in college so I wouldn't feel so frustrated and they really helped in my learning as well.


As for the actual testing, like I mentioned earlier I found it very interesting. The majority of it is not pen and paper. You do activities and are acuallu interacting with the technician (or whomever is preforming it). Some of the things I did was putting together puzzles, drawing things, building and copying patterns with blocks, recognizing patters, reading comprehension, some arithmatic activies and much more. So in many ways it was neat--- I got really frustrated at times when I couldnt do something (that I was asked to), but all in all it was not a bad experience at all.

How long the testing is varies on what the neuro psych orders, which depends on the person. My neuro psych did the complete batter of tests and it took me about 13 hours. Since I get tired easily and 4 hours a day was about all I can handle --which I told the psych, I did the testing over a period of 3 days.

So, don't be afraid of having them done. Not a bad experience and certainly not as scary as I orginally thought they would be.

L2L