Neuropsychological Testing and Evaluations
Memory, dementia, brain injury, and concussion testing, plus the spinal cord stimulator evaluation, by doctoral-level psychologists.
Navigating Your Evaluation
What Is Psychological Testing?
Psychological testing is a structured evaluation that uses a clinical interview and standardized, validated tests to answer a specific question about how a person is thinking, remembering, coping, and functioning. At Rowan, we offer two types of testing. Neuropsychological testing covers memory and dementia, brain injury, and concussion. The pre-surgical psychological evaluation is for people considering a spinal cord stimulator.
Most people arrive here with a question that has been building for a while. Names that won’t come. A conversation you can’t hold onto since the concussion. A surgeon who asked for a psychological evaluation before the procedure, and a first search that made it sound like a hurdle. Psychological testing is how we answer that question.
Our psychologists work in behavioral medicine, which is health psychology applied to medical conditions and their treatment, so the evaluation isn’t the end of the process. The findings go into a written report with recommendations you and your medical team can act on, and if therapy or cognitive rehabilitation is part of what comes next, it can happen here, with a team that already has the results.
How Often Do Changes in Thinking Go Unmeasured?
Nearly 9 in 10 older adults whose cognitive test scores were consistent with dementia, and who had seen a physician within the previous two years, reported no dementia diagnosis. Traumatic brain injuries put more than 586 people a day in the hospital in the United States, before counting the many injuries treated only in an emergency department or urgent care, or never treated at all.
The gap between what someone is living with and what has been measured is where an evaluation earns its place. Memory changes get waved through as normal aging, and a concussion gets cleared once the headache stops, when neuropsychological testing can show which abilities have changed and which haven’t. That’s the difference between guessing at a plan and building one, and it’s why therapy for neurological conditions here starts with the numbers.
Older Adults With Dementia-Level Scores Had No Diagnosis
Nationally representative sample of adults 65 and older with dementia-level cognitive scores who had seen a physician in the prior two years: 89.9% reported no dementia diagnosis. Source: Parker et al., 2022, Aging Clinical and Experimental Research.
Brain Injury Hospitalizations Every Day in the US
About 214,110 TBI-related hospitalizations in 2020, more than 586 per day, not counting injuries treated only in an emergency department, primary care, or urgent care, or those that go untreated. Source: CDC, Traumatic Brain Injury Data.
What Does Rowan Assess?
Rowan offers two kinds of assessment: neuropsychological testing, which covers memory and dementia, brain injury, and concussion evaluations, and the pre-surgical spinal cord stimulator evaluation. If you’ve noticed memory slipping, are recovering from a concussion, or are living with a diagnosis such as multiple sclerosis or Parkinson’s disease, one of the cards below is yours. What we don’t test for is answered in the questions at the bottom of the page.
Brain Injury Evaluations
For traumatic brain injury and acquired injury from conditions such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, or hydrocephalus. The evaluation maps how thinking, memory, and emotional functioning have changed, and supports treatment planning, caregiver education, and accommodations.
Concussion Evaluation
For symptoms that have not cleared as expected after a concussion. An evaluation with ImPACT testing, led by neuropsychologists Dr. Tori Togashi and Dr. Bindal Mehmel, gives a clear picture of the injury, including memory, attention, and reaction time, and the psychological factors that slow recovery, so treatment can start instead of waiting it out.
Memory and Dementia Evaluations
Neuropsychological testing for adults who have noticed their memory slipping, or whose family or physician has. It shows whether the changes fall within the normal range for your age, trace to mood, sleep, or medication, or point to something that needs medical follow-up.
Spinal Cord Stimulator Evaluation
A pre-surgical readiness evaluation for people whose pain specialist or surgeon is considering a spinal cord stimulator: about 45 minutes of questionnaires, then a 60-minute interview with Dr. Jan Tackett, a board-certified rehabilitation psychologist. It weighs whether you’re likely to benefit, and sets you up to succeed if you go ahead.
How Do You Get an Evaluation With Rowan?
Getting started takes one call or form, an intake conversation, and a match with the psychologist who performs your evaluation. Starting is usually the part that stalls, especially when the question behind it is one you’d rather not ask, so here’s exactly what happens.
Start by Reaching Out
Call us directly, fill out the interest form, or schedule a free consultation. If a physician or pain specialist referred you, have their name and the reason for the referral handy.
One-on-One Intake Conversation
Our intake team reaches out for a one-on-one call to talk through the question you want answered, your medical history, and any records or referral notes that belong in the evaluation. If you would rather skip the phone, this step can happen over email.
Matched With the Right Psychologist
We match you with a psychologist who performs this specific evaluation, and we confirm the format, how long it will take, and what to bring before anything is scheduled.
Your Evaluation Appointment
You complete the questionnaires and the testing itself, and the written report with its recommendations follows.
How Does a Neuropsychological Evaluation Work?
A neuropsychological evaluation has three parts: a clinical interview, standardized testing chosen to fit your question, and a written report with specific recommendations. It starts with the interview because test scores only mean something against the story behind them: your history, your symptoms, and the question you or your physician want answered.
From there, your psychologist selects validated tests that fit that question rather than running the same battery on everyone.
The Clinical Interview
You, and often a family member, talk through what has changed, when it started, your medical history, and how it’s affecting daily life. Records from your physician are reviewed alongside it.
Standardized Testing
Neuropsychological testing covers memory, attention, language, processing speed, and problem-solving, each test validated against people of your age and background, so a score means something specific rather than something vague.
The testing itself is rarely the hard part. The months of not knowing that came before it usually are.
A Written Report You Can Use
Findings are integrated with your background into a detailed written report with specific recommendations for treatment, accommodations, or further medical follow-up. It’s written for you and your medical team, not for a filing cabinet.
The SCS Evaluation Is Different
A shorter, separate process: questionnaires first, then a conversation with a psychologist, with a written result for your surgical team.
Care That Continues After the Results
Cognitive rehabilitation, therapy for brain injury, and psychological support for chronic pain are all here, so a recommendation in the report has somewhere to go.
Why Choose Rowan for Neuropsychological Testing?
Rowan’s psychologists also treat the conditions they test for, so an evaluation here is the first step of a plan, not a report that lands in a drawer. At Rowan Center, behavioral medicine is the whole practice. Your physician makes the diagnosis. We give it the detail that makes a plan possible.
Every evaluation starts with a conversation about what has changed and what you want answered, along with your medical history and records. The testing is chosen to fit that question, not the other way around.
With your permission we share the report with your neurologist, pain specialist, surgeon, or primary care physician, so the findings become part of one plan instead of a second opinion in a separate file.
You get a detailed written report that integrates the findings with your history, written in language you and your family can use, with recommendations that mean something for daily life, work, and the decisions ahead.
If the evaluation points to therapy, cognitive rehabilitation, or pain psychology, it can begin here with a team that already has the results.
Neuropsychological testing is performed by doctoral-level psychologists trained to administer and interpret it, and the care that follows is with doctoral-level psychologists and licensed therapists who work in behavioral medicine every day.
Frequently Asked Questions About Assessment
How does neuropsychological testing differ from a psychological evaluation?
Neuropsychological testing, sometimes called neurocognitive testing or a neuropsych eval, measures specific thinking abilities, such as memory, attention, language, processing speed, and problem-solving, with standardized tests, and compares your scores with what’s expected for your age and background. It’s the right tool when the question is about memory, dementia, or the effects of a brain injury or concussion. A psychological evaluation is broader. It looks at mood, coping, and day-to-day functioning through an interview and questionnaires, and the spinal cord stimulator evaluation is that kind of evaluation, aimed at one specific decision. Those are the two kinds of assessment we offer.
Do you offer ADHD testing or psychodiagnostic testing?
No. Rowan doesn’t provide ADHD evaluations or psychodiagnostic testing, which covers personality and symptom inventories. Other providers offer both, and they’ll give you a written report you can bring anywhere. What we can do is the part that comes after. If your results point to therapy for ADHD, anxiety, depression, or anything else, we can see you for ongoing sessions and work from the report you already have.
What happens during a spinal cord stimulator evaluation?
You complete about 45 minutes of questionnaires, on paper or online, and then meet with a psychologist for a 60-minute interview. The conversation covers your health, your pain, how you cope with it, and your health and wellness habits. The goal is to work out whether a stimulator is likely to help you and, just as much, to set you up to do well with it if you go ahead. It’s designed to meet the mental health evaluation that stimulator programs require before surgery, so your pain specialist or surgeon can move forward with a clear answer.
Does insurance cover psychological assessment?
Coverage for testing depends on your plan and on the reason for the evaluation, so it’s worth checking before anything is scheduled. Our team can verify your coverage before your first appointment, and the plans Rowan works with are listed on our payment information page.