Neuro-Psych Eval Session 1
Lyn had her first official round of the neuro-psych testing on Friday. Mom made sure she ate some breakfast before going "so the brain works best." Lyn hates eating breakfast but she cooperated.
The session was to last about two hours. Mom and I figured Lyn would last about an hour to an hour and half before declaring she was done. We would have lost if we had placed a bet on it. Lyn stuck with the testing for over three hours which extended over lunch. When Lyn began the testing, Mom left to run errands, returning at the designated time about 2 hours later. The clinician came out to where Mom was waiting and asked her to complete a VINELAND-Adaptive Behavior Scores. Mom felt the assessment she was asked to fill out was basically not relevant because some of the questions were geared for infants/toddlers. Mom is correct that the test is geared towards children. Additionally, it is geared towards providing a standard against normal, average children.
(I have to question its use in Lyn's evaluation. The intellectually disabled really shouldn't be evaluated against normative standards, even if you account for age adjustments. They should be evaluated against their own skill sets. How can you compare a 40 year old, intellectually disabled woman and, using a standardized and normalized test designed for children, come up with a meaningful assessment?)
The clinician said "She is a delightful young lady but she does have problems". Mom's internal response was "WELL DUH!!!!!"
Lyn finished up and came out of the evaluation in an upbeat mood. She had taken a couple of short breaks but had kept at the testing. She began to tell Mom about the tests. She was somewhat disgusted because she was asked to count backwards. "Who ever counts that way? I told her no, I count forwards." She was asked if she knew the alphabet to which she responded "Of course. I've known them since I went to school." She was disgusted that they asked her the day, the name of the city and the state. I bet The Look entered into the morning more than once.
The session, though a positive experience for Lyn, really took the wind out of her. She prepared for bed by 6 and was asleep by 8 pm. She was just exhausted.
She has two more sessions this week. We'll report on what happens then.
The session was to last about two hours. Mom and I figured Lyn would last about an hour to an hour and half before declaring she was done. We would have lost if we had placed a bet on it. Lyn stuck with the testing for over three hours which extended over lunch. When Lyn began the testing, Mom left to run errands, returning at the designated time about 2 hours later. The clinician came out to where Mom was waiting and asked her to complete a VINELAND-Adaptive Behavior Scores. Mom felt the assessment she was asked to fill out was basically not relevant because some of the questions were geared for infants/toddlers. Mom is correct that the test is geared towards children. Additionally, it is geared towards providing a standard against normal, average children.
(I have to question its use in Lyn's evaluation. The intellectually disabled really shouldn't be evaluated against normative standards, even if you account for age adjustments. They should be evaluated against their own skill sets. How can you compare a 40 year old, intellectually disabled woman and, using a standardized and normalized test designed for children, come up with a meaningful assessment?)
The clinician said "She is a delightful young lady but she does have problems". Mom's internal response was "WELL DUH!!!!!"
Lyn finished up and came out of the evaluation in an upbeat mood. She had taken a couple of short breaks but had kept at the testing. She began to tell Mom about the tests. She was somewhat disgusted because she was asked to count backwards. "Who ever counts that way? I told her no, I count forwards." She was asked if she knew the alphabet to which she responded "Of course. I've known them since I went to school." She was disgusted that they asked her the day, the name of the city and the state. I bet The Look entered into the morning more than once.
The session, though a positive experience for Lyn, really took the wind out of her. She prepared for bed by 6 and was asleep by 8 pm. She was just exhausted.
She has two more sessions this week. We'll report on what happens then.
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