Comprehensive Neuroeducational Assessments

What are Neuroeducational Assessments?

Neuroeducational evaluations are a hybrid model of assessment integrating traditional psychoeducational, neuropsychological, and psychological/social-emotional functioning into the testing process, with goals typically geared towards identification of educational and/or neuropsychological factors that may adversely impact learning as it relates to school, academic, or work performance. A neuroeducational assessment integrates various neuropsychological tests across multiple areas of functioning and from multiple sources to investigate how and which skills are affecting the educational process. Thus, the neuroeducational assessment links brain functioning and learning behavior, in order to understand and interve as needed based on a unique cognituve profile for each individual (hence, our motto: Assess. Understand. Intervene.)!

Neuroeducational evaluations focus on not just arriving at a clinical diagnosis (which is often necessar, but not sufficient) in order to ascertain one’s strengths — as well as their differences — to build recommendations to support them in their daily functioning. Neuroeducational assessments focus on gathering information about numerous aspects of cognitive, social, and emotional functioning, as many different needs can present similarly. A complete evaluation can reveal underlying cognitive weaknesses, unrecognized emotional needs, and provide a clear picture of the individual to help guide intervention planning. Neuroeducational Assessments are also functional as they focus on what is impacting the home, school, and work environments with the goal of providing resources and recommendations specific to the individual and their areas of need.

Dr. Maybouer‘s approach to neuroeducational assessment is strongly influenced by her background as a practicing school psychologist and knowing the interplay between neuropsychological functioning and academic performance can rarely be separated. read more about the building blocks of psychological and educational performance, below.

What is Involved in a Neuroeducational Assessment?

All neuroeducational evaluations include a thorough health and developmental history interview. If the client is school-aged, all evaluations also include communication with the school. Communication with the school and having a clear picture of the child in both the home and school settings is essential to obtaining a complete understanding of what is occurring.

Additional testing may also be completed in the following areas:

Cognitive (Intelligence)
Neuropsychological measures
Memory
Executive Functioning
Autism
Attention
Mental Health (e.g., anxiety, depression, trauma, etc.)
Academic
Adaptive/Daily Living
Rating Scales
Communication with any individuals or agencies desired by the client/family
Any other additional components

The Building Blocks of Brain Development

Based on current research assessing various brain processes, the Building Blocks of Brain Development is a simply-named but specialized framework that provides an updated, hybrid model of psychological and educational assessment: The Neuroeducational Evaluation. Given Dr. Maybouer’s unique dual specialization in school psychology and clinical psychological assessment (see her vita/resume here), Building Blocks has been a natural fit for her theoretical orientation of practice. In the Building Blocks model, traditional domains of cognitive functioning are visualized as “building blocks” in which one block affects all learning and behavior. Due to the inter-relatedness and integrated nature of our brains, just one building block that is not functioning well can affect all of the others, as depicted above. Therefore, a neuroeducational assessor can evaluate what a deficit in each building block might “look like” educationally, in order to determine evidence-based strategies or interventions to address deficits.

The Building Blocks of Brain Development framework is developmental and color-coded for ease of use, proceeding from foundational processes (in orange) to more complex functions (in green, blue, and purple). At the base of the chart is the orange, fundamental level of memory, processing speed, attention, inhibition, and sensory-motor.
The intermediate level (as seen in green) depends on the fundamental building blocks in order to develop and become more complex. The higher-order thinking skills (as seen in blue) rely on the lower levels to be solidly in place in order to fully develop and be available. Intermediate Processes Level includes language processes (expressive, receptive, social pragmatic), learning processes, and visual- spatial processes.

And finally, the top cognitive processes of overall achievement (as seen in purple) is the peak of functioning. As seen, it is wholly dependent on the three preceding levels being intact and working in concert to produce outcome, which is reasoning and overall functioning. This Higher Order Processes Level includes social emotional competency and executive functions (initiation, planning, organization, mental flexibility, and reasoning/judgment), which places heavy demand on them for school-based functioning.

Comprehensive Neuroeducational Assessments

What are Neuroeducational Assessments?

What is Involved in a Neuroeducational Assessment?

The Building Blocks of Brain Development

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