Tag - Neuropsychology

The long-term effects of COVID-19 on cognition

According to Harvard Health Publishing, “brain fog,” a term used to describe slow and sluggish thinking, has been cited as a lasting symptom post-COVID-19 infection. The highly contagious virus has been reported to affect various aspects of an individual’s cognition, including executive function. Sam Goldstein and Dr. Jack A. Naglieri’s...

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The importance of assessing executive function across the lifespan

Children and adults with problems related to executive functioning may struggle to organize materials, regulate emotions, set schedules, and stick with tasks. For example, they misplace papers, reports, and other school materials. They might have similar problems keeping track of their personal items or keeping their bedroom organized. Dr. Sam Goldstein...

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baby with parents

Changes in development milestones for children: What you need to know

Parents and professionals alike pay close attention to a child’s progress towards key developmental milestones. While the rate that a child speaks, walks, learns, and plays will certainly vary for each individual, tracking milestones is an important way to monitor potential concerns and ensure early identification of missed milestones or...

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Diagnosing Autism Spectrum Disorder with Dr. Sam Goldstein

We sat down with Dr. Sam Goldstein, co-author of MHS’ Autism Spectrum Rating Scales™ (ASRS®), to discuss challenges that can arise when diagnosing autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and emerging trends within the clinical field related to ASD. The interview below has been edited for length and clarity. An ASD diagnosis can be...

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A school psychologist looks on and makes notes as a student completes a puzzle

How can school psychologists use performance validity testing to provide more accurate assessments of students?

Understanding performance validity is important any time maximum performance tests are used (e.g., tests of intelligence, aptitude, achievement, and/or neuropsychological performance). Knowing if a student has given their best effort during assessment is critical to the accuracy of test score interpretation. This need has long been recognized in adults; however,...

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How Performance Validity Testing Helps With Accurate Assessment Practices

The necessity of including performance validity measures in neuropsychological evaluations has been understood for some time (Chafetz et al., 2015; Greher & Wodushek, 2017). One cannot draw inferences about brain-behavior relationships unless they are confident the examinee performed to the best of their ability on all assessments. Understanding performance validity...

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