Coming for a neuropsychological assessment

What to expect

Before your assessment

The neuropsychologist will review any medical records and scans that are available, then discuss your views of your difficulty with you in a clinical interview.

It is usually best if we can talk to you along with someone who knows you well and who can give another perspective on the problem.

During your assessment

The goal of the assessment is to find out whether different aspects of cognition are working as they should, in relation to your age and background.

We have a wide range of tests available and select those which are best suited to each person. These tests cover areas including:

• Attention
• Memory
• Language
• Perception
• Reasoning capacity
• Mood and social functioning.

The amount of time needed for an evaluation varies depending on the problem being assessed. It usually takes several hours to collect the information. A single appointment is often enough for us to collect information to answer the referring doctor’s questions although we may need to arrange an additional testing session.

After your assessment

We then score the tests and analyse the results, comparing this to the general population. The final results are then interpreted in relation to what is known about brain function, the different types of difficulty associated with particular diseases, and other factors that may affect cognition.

After your assessment we can offer a feedback session, where we discuss the preliminary results of our assessment with you (and your family if appropriate). We then provide a written report for the referring practitioners and (if requested) a written summary for you.

Where to find us

We're located in Victoria House, on the Southampton General Hospital site.

You can also open this map as a PDF below: